Call of Shadow
by Kit Chan76
Summary: Years after Arago's invasion the Troopers disappear with no trace. It is left for Jun to save them from a powerful new spirit and it is left for the Troopers to save Jun from himself.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue:

Date Seiji sat quietly on a wide flat stone and watched carelessly as the world passed by. The day was cold, so much so that the warrior had considered staying home entirely, but the sky was clear and bright and Seiji could not refuse such an inviting escape from the business of reality.

He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, deliberately, and the chill air stung his lungs as he inhaled. As he sat he grew ever more unaware and his body relaxed against the cold.

"Excuse me!"

Seiji startled back to reality and peered about at the desolation. His eyes came to rest on a small child, a girl not more than eight years old, who peeked coyly over a large decorative boulder. When she saw Seiji look her way she perked up with a wide smile then shrank back shyly.

Seiji was dumbfounded. He was sitting on private land in the middle of an expansive patch of forest. He could count the number of people who knew of this place on one hand, and he had told no one that he would be leaving. No one knew he was here and Seiji noted that fact with more than a passing curiosity.

"Are you lost?" he asked.

The girl stepped out from her hiding place and fidgeted. She rocked back and forth, shifting her delicate weight from left to right, and peered at the ground until, at length, she peered up shyly at Seiji, who continued to stare. "Are you Seiji?" she said. "Date Seiji?"

He nodded and felt suddenly conflicted. There was a large part of him that jumped to the defensive and concluded that the little girl meant trouble, but when he looked at her, shy and apparently lost, he felt silly for even remotely considering her a danger. "Who are you?" he said evenly, tempering his concern.

"My name is Mai," she said happily and rushed to Seiji's side. She grasped his arm and tugged at his sleeve. "I need your help."

Seiji cocked his head, confused by the plea. "My help?"

"I can't find my brother!" she shrieked and looked suddenly urgent. "He came here to see you and I got separated and I can't find him anymore. I think he's in trouble. Please help me, Seiji oniichan."

"Who is your brother?" Seiji replied, unfazed by the girl's desperation.

Mai's face went suddenly blank and fat tears began to roll down her face. "Jun never told you about me?" she said quietly.

Seiji covered his face with his palm and sighed heavily. Of course, he thought, there was only one person capable of destroying such a beautiful getaway, and he had done so in a spectacular fashion. The last thing Seiji wanted to deal with on a vacation was a child, let alone two of them.

Presently Mai began to cry and Seiji looked at her with a soft gaze. She sniffled and wiped at her face with her arm, still clutching Seiji's gi. Then she looked at him gravely. "I think he's in trouble, I'm scared."

Seiji stood and Mai clasped his hand tightly. She wept and wiped at her face with her free hand, then pulled him along. All the while Seiji contemplated this strange situation with a heavy skepticism. The girl did bear a striking resemblance to Jun, but Seiji hadn't seen nor heard from the boy in years. Jun had, for all purposes, fallen off of the face of the planet, he didn't even write to Nasté anymore. The warriors had attributed it to age, had figured that Jun had moved on to bigger and better things than hassling them, and was probably working in some cubicle somewhere pushing pencils for middle management.

"How old is your brother now?" Seiji said skeptically.

"Nineteen!" Mai said and tugged Seiji harder.

"And he can't read a map?"

Mai shrugged. "He's not very smart."

Seiji rolled the statement over in his mind while the girl pulled him along. Jun had been annoying, stressful, and generally unpleasant to deal with, but he had never been stupid. Toma had tutored him in school for a long time and so Jun's marks were remarkably high for a boy of his age. Seiji thought that this was proof that the girl was indeed Jun's little sister and the remark was a jibe typical of siblings, but he could not shake the nervousness he felt. Jun had never had a sister, had never mentioned anything about any siblings at all, but the math did add up.

"Where are you taking me?" Seiji said.

Mai looked up at him with a pleasant expression. "To where I got lost."

The warrior sighed once more and relented, though he stayed ever on his guard, and allowed Mai to usher him through the dense wood. She stayed on the path for a while, perhaps half a mile, and then she stopped very suddenly and clung tightly to his arm. Seiji looked down at her before surveying the space. The forest was dark, darker than it should have been, and Seiji felt immediately that something was desperately wrong.

"Why did we stop?" he said. "Is this where you lost him?"

Mai dropped Seiji's hand and bolted into the darkness.

"Wait!" he cried and rushed blindly after her. "Where are you going?"

Frustrated, Seiji stopped running and looked all around. Mai was nowhere to be seen and he was far from the trail. He swore quietly and turned to return to the path but stopped short, startled.

Mai stood in his path, smirking slyly.

"What's your problem?" Seiji spat angrily. "I don't have time to deal with your games."

"Oh, Seiji," Mai said and she seemed suddenly very mature. She put a hand on her hip and gazed up at him, full of disappointment. "I had figured that you would be harder to dupe than this. I guess you're not as keen as we gave you credit for."

Seiji stepped back and reached into the pocket of his gi to retrieve the kanji orb stored there. But before he could summon his armor he stopped, frozen, and his blood ran cold. He could not move and could not speak. All he could do was stare at the deceptive little girl before him and try to suppress the fear mounting in him.

"You want to know what is going on, don't you?" she said and sauntered toward him. And as Mai walked her form became incorporeal and dark and then she was gone.

As soon as she disappeared Seiji fell forward, unexpectedly released from the binding paralysis. Immediately he summoned his under gear and looked about nervously. Then he heard a laugh, low and evil issuing from behind, and he turned to face it squarely.

Then the world went black.


	2. Chapter 2

Note: Read and please review, I take all criticism/suggestions very seriously and I do respond to questions pretty readily, so if there's anything you're curious about don't hesitate to ask. Otherwise please enjoy!

Chapter 1:

Nasté Koji sat in her still idling jeep, checking and rechecking the address on her notebook with the number on the sprawling suburban mansion before her. She had been sitting there, parked on the street in front of the looming home, for almost twenty minutes, time she spent half rehearsing her introductory speech, prepared for when something went wrong, and half wondering if what she was doing was the right thing at all. She truly believed that he had experienced enough tragedy in his short life, but she also knew that he was the only one who could help her.

So Nasté exited her car at last, clutching her notebook against her chest, and steeled her nerves as she approached the door. She knocked tentatively at first, got no answer, and knocked again with more force.

"Give me a damned minute," said a voice from behind the door. "Who the hell do you think you are, knocking on my door at this hour?"

Nasté checked her watch. It was eight thirty.

The door swung open and Nasté felt suddenly terrified. She stood facing a giant man with knotted muscles and stringy black hair. He towered over her in such a way that she was forced to crane her neck, which she believed he could have snapped easily, just to look at him.

"What do you want?" He snapped, and Nasté reeled. The man reeked of sweat and cheap vodka.

"My name is Nasté Koji," she said as quickly as she could., kicking immediately into her rehearsed introductory speech. "I am a social anthropologist with a local community college, I am here conducting research on the Toyama Phenomenon."

"I don't want any," said the man and he closed the door abruptly.

Nasté thrust her hand out, stopping the door just before it closed. "I'm looking for Jun Yamano," she said. "Do you know where I can find him? Public records indicate that this is his permanent residence."

The man rolled his eyes and blew a long sigh, then swung the door open again. He motioned absently for Nasté to enter. "Up the stairs," he said and pointed to an ornate wooden staircase adjacent to the door. "Third door on the left." Then he turned away from her without bothering to close the door and disappeared into the house.

Nasté closed the door, feeling awkward from the encounter but heartened that she was, in fact, in the right place. So she turned to the stairs and climbed, taking note that the home, not structured much differently than her own inherited Victorian house, was completely undecorated and utterly silent. The place was eerie.

The first thing Nasté noticed about the third door on the left was a conspicuous lock on the outer handle, a large industrial one that might otherwise be found in a warehouse. She wondered about the implications of such a serious security measure and grew nervous again. Maybe Jun had lost his mind after all that had happened. Maybe he couldn't cope with the losses.

She knocked anyway, twice with an uncomfortably long silence between. Then she opened the door slowly, afraid of what might be beyond, and poked her head inside.

The room was spotless and scarcely furnished. A twin sized bed with dark covers was pushed into the corner directly to the right of the door and beside it sat a small table with a lamp and a thick book on top. At the foot of the bed was a square wooden chest, polished and shining in the dim desk light. Against the far wall was a bookshelf of considerable size that was stuffed with tomes of every size imaginable, organized neatly by height and thickness on each shelf.

Nasté pushed the door open the rest of the way and smiled, immediately relieved. Beside the bookshelf was a simple wooden writing desk, at which there sat—or slumped—Jun Yamano, sleeping amidst two tall piles of books and papers and writing tablets.

She closed the door quietly and placed her things on the nightstand, then she approached the sleeping young man.

He had changed so much, she thought, he was all grown up and inundated with work. He bore almost no resemblance to the eight year old boy she had left behind almost a decade ago, the only indication that he was the right person was the affirmation of the man who had opened the door. His hair was cut short, spiked as the style of the day mandated, long in the front and parted hastily on the left. None of the old, adorable baby fat was left, he had either grown or worked his way out of it, and Nasté suspected the latter.

She placed a hand on his back and bent down. "Jun," she called quietly. "Wake up."

He sat up with a start and drew in a sharp breath. Taking no note of the woman beside him he began rifling through the pile of work he had fallen asleep on, obviously panicked. "Shit," he said quietly and grabbed at one of the thicker books on the right side of the desk.

And then he stopped very suddenly, his hand still on top of the book, and he looked at Nasté with an expression of complete bewilderment. "How did you find me?" He said quietly, urgently. "You have to leave, it's not safe here. How did you find me?"

Nasté stood with a broad smile and motioned toward the door. "Would you like a coffee?" she said. "I'll explain everything, I promise."

Jun stood and walked to the door, grasped the handle, and turned it slowly. He seemed surprised when it clicked open and turned back to Nasté suspiciously. "How did you get into the house?" he said grimly.

Nasté's smile faded. "A big man let me in. He thought I was a solicitor," she replied. "Are you all right? Is everything okay here? I thought you'd be happy to see me after so long."

Jun paid no heed to Nasté's questions and rushed to the closet, from which he retrieved a black sweater. "Get your things," he said and pulled the shirt over his head. "Let's go, if we're going."

So Nasté gathered her belongings and followed Jun quickly and quietly from the house. He didn't say a word for a long while after they left.

Ж

Jun sipped at his coffee absently while Nasté began her long explanation. She talked for a while, though he couldn't recall anything she said with any accuracy at all. He was preoccupied with the suddenness of Nasté's arrival, the ease at which she was able to enter the house and he was able to leave. Nasté stopped mid-sentence and watched him sip his espresso.

"Who was he?" she asked and Jun looked at her, suddenly quite attentive. "The man that answered the door. Who was he?"

Jun put his cup on the table and looked around the coffeehouse. They were the only two in the place and had intentionally chosen a seat at the back, in a booth far away from the entrance. "He is my legal guardian," said Jun quietly. "And you'd do well to avoid him, if you can."

"Why?"

"Because he is trouble, that's why. He's a dealer, black market opiates, but he's smart enough to keep his hands off of the stuff."

Nasté seemed baffled by the news. "How did you wind up there, then? I thought that adoption required special background checks and thorough personal investigation?"

Jun shrugged. "He's got money and no criminal record. You can't deny someone on suspicion alone." He cleared his throat and looked at his half empty cup. "But that doesn't explain why you're here. Why did you come for me?"

Nasté had nearly forgotten, she was so interested in Jun's revelation. "Oh," she said, "I've got some news, or at least I suspect some news."

"Bad news, I suppose," Jun said flatly.

Nasté nodded. "I hadn't heard from anyone in a few weeks and I got worried."

"Anyone?"

"The other boys," Nasté said, surprised that Jun seemed not to recall. He nodded his understanding and motioned for her to continue. "Then last week I got a strange phone call. It was from Kayura. She told me to find you and that we are both needed as soon as possible."

"Needed where?"

"I traced the number," said Nasté, producing a folded paper from her bag. She laid it flat on the table before Jun and pointed to a desolate region north of Tokyo, between the capital city and Utsunomiya. "Somewhere within ten or twenty miles of here."

Jun balked. "That's the middle of nowhere," he said.

Nasté nodded and looked hopefully at the boy. "If we leave now we can be there in about seven hours," she looked at her watch. "That will put us in the area around sunrise. But I need you to come with me. Kayura said it was imperative that you be there. I spent a week tracking you down. Toyama is a big city."

Jun blew a long sigh. "I guess. But if I'm gone for long I won't be able to go back home," he said. "I'd be dead before I got through the door."

Nasté nodded. "You can stay with me. No one has to know you're there."

"Okay then," Jun said and downed the rest of his drink. "Let's go."

And so Nasté and Jun began the long trek from Toyama, passing buildings and cars that grew more sparse and dilapidated the longer they drove until they passed out of general civilization and into the vast expanse of land between cities. A few houses dotted the mountainous horizon here and there, likely rice or grain farms, and one or two lights marked important exits. At length, the four lane highway narrowed to two. The rice farms stopped appearing in the distance, and the lights, sparse as they already were, disappeared altogether.

On they drove for hours in what either of them might have called a semi-comfortable silence. Both had many questions for the other of varying degrees of personality. Nasté wanted to engage in small talk, besides. She wanted to know how her young companion had fared since their last round of adventuring so long ago, but every time she looked at him and opened her mouth to speak she stopped herself. He sat in the same position, unmoving as a stone, his left leg pulled to his chest, left elbow resting on his knee, head resting between his hand and the window. He stared out at the passing scenery absently and in such a way that Nasté wondered if he would ever come back.

He was troubled, she thought, and probably as confused about the sudden summons as she was. Likely, too, that he worried about whatever work he had fallen asleep on, the piles of unread texts and pristine notes. He must have left a lot behind.

But he seemed eager to leave it behind all the same.

"What were you working on when I woke you up?" she asked suddenly. "Or I guess when you fell asleep." She paused and glanced at her passenger. Then she sighed heavily. Finally, after nearly four and a half hours of silence and mustering enough nerve to speak, he had fallen asleep. "Figures," Nasté said quietly, and retrieved the map from her bag.

Nasté nearly missed the sudden left turn, so long had she been driving in a relatively straight line. She had exited the main highway some time ago and the world was beginning to blur in the predawn light. But there it was, a tiny, one lane dirt road that could scarcely accommodate the width of her modest automobile.

The road was in good repair, she noted, probably untraveled unless someone was hopelessly lost. The surface was smooth and small patches of short brown grass sprouted at its edges. It wound in a generally westward direction, meandering up what Nasté estimated to be a decent sized hill, into a thick patch of broad leafed trees. Mountains loomed in the distance.

Jun woke with a subtle yawn just as Nasté was beginning to grow lonely and a little afraid. As she drove the trees grew thicker and, by now, the cover was so dense that only splotches of dim moonlight swayed between the leaves. She imagined that this place was beautiful in the daytime, but now it was foreboding and suffocating. She expected a monster to jump out, horror movie style, at any moment.

Jun noticed Nasté's worry as soon as he looked at her. She clutched the steering wheel so tight that her hands were white and leaned forward so that he initially thought she was resting her chin on her hands.

"It's okay," he said and Nasté looked at him, startled by the sudden noise. "We've got to be close."

Jun tapped the illuminated clock and offered his driver an awkward but comforting expression, the most empathy he could show in the moment. "By sunup, you said," he continued. "And sunup is soon."

Nasté relaxed substantially then and grew less tense as the scenery passed by. He was right, she thought, and besides, she had company again.

It was as a scene in a movie, when the car at last came free of the trees. The forest ended suddenly and before the pair was a red orange sky, framed by mountains near and far, and puffy pink clouds rolled through the air. Off in the distance there stood a structure, perhaps a hundred yards from the left side of the road, and beside the structure rose a long stone staircase that vanished behind carefully landscaped brush up the green hillside.

Nasté pulled to the side of the road and cut the ignition. She never took her eyes off of the staircase as she exited the vehicle and made her way toward the structure, Jun following cautiously behind.

"It's a shrine," Nasté observed as the two stopped at the structure. "Abandoned, by the looks of this sign, but not by the scenery."

Jun shrugged. "Maybe," was all the affirmation that he offered.

The two climbed the stairs, satisfied enough that they were in the right place to continue their journey. There must have been a hundred steps there, divided into equal sections by red and gold painted archways and lined by evenly spaced and carefully trimmed cherry trees. Nasté grew tired quickly despite the scenery, but was immediately alert when she noticed a figure standing near the top steps. She waved happily at the figure and quickened her pace. Jun fell into step behind.

"Kayura!" Nasté cried and threw her arms around the ageless woman.

"I knew you would come," Kayura replied. "You brought the boy as well?"

Nasté nodded and motioned to Jun as he stepped up behind her. "Just as you asked. I never thought I'd find this place."

"It is intentionally hidden," said Kayura. Then she stepped away from Nasté and approached Jun with a benevolent smile. "It's good to see you're doing well, young friend."

Jun bowed curtly and spoke her title as his greeting. "Kaosu."

Satisfied, Kayura turned away and beckoned her guests across the square cobblestone pavilion at the top of the stairs, toward what must have been her home, a modern looking though traditionally styled two story Japanese building with a brick red tiled roof and light tan exterior.

"This is my home," she said as she slid open the door. "Please make yourselves at home as long as you stay. You must be tired."

"Very," Nasté said and she placed her belongings beside the door.

"You will find bedrooms up the stairs on either side of the hallways. Pick any bed you'd like."

"Don't we have important issues to discuss?" Nasté asked. "You said that our summons was urgent."

Kayura shook her head. "It won't do us any good if you're both so exhausted," she said. "I'll wake you both in a few hours. I still have a few preparations to make."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2:

Nasté woke sometime after noon to an empty house and a small note atop a thick file folder on the kitchen table. She sat down and read the note, which explained that Kayura and Jun had gone off to the shrine proper for the morning and that Nasté needed to review the documents that now sat before her. "Your scientific and anthropological skills will be of utmost importance to us in the next few days," the note said.

So Nasté opened the file and began leafing through the papers inside. The first few were photographs of Toyama during the invasion of Arago, of ruins and abandonment, and all of them showed, in at least some capacity, the thick and permeating fog that hung about the city. The next photographs showed the house that Nasté presently sat in at the edge of such a shroud, and Nasté grew worried.

There were more pictures of the haze, but Nasté flipped through them hastily. There wasn't much she could do with them at the moment, not until she could investigate its source. In the middle of the pile were several news articles focused on missing persons, noticeably the five boys who had gone missing some weeks ago. As Nasté pulled the clippings from the folder she noticed, at the very bottom of the pile, a final photograph that showed a dark armor laying on a patch of dead grass. She pulled the photo out and examined it closely.

Nasté initially believed that the photo was shot on monochrome film, so gray and black were the shades, but when she held it close she could see subtle browns and greens in the background. The armor itself was black, of that much she was certain, and bore no distinctive markings or embellishments as the existing nine. The lighting of the photograph was such that Nasté could see a glint, barely visible under the armor's left arm, as if the camera's flash had reflected off of a metallic surface, though what was there was indistinguishable from the otherwise gloomy photograph.

Nasté tried to discern more detail from the photograph than it would allow, and finally flipped the picture over and put it down on the table. "I have no idea what this is," she said with a sigh and went to retrieve her computer from her bags.

Ж

"You've grown into a fine young man," said Kayura as she led Jun toward the shrine. The path they followed led straight away from the house, toward the mountains, and was framed much the same way as the initial staircase with painted archways between evenly spaced sakura trees.

"What does that mean?" Jun replied at length, seeing no elaboration was forthcoming.

"I've been watching you for a while," the ancient said. "You've lived a difficult life, but you have much virtue and strong personal integrity. You are everything that your parents had hoped you would be. You're everything that anyone hoped you would be. You simply didn't arrive at this point in the way they would have liked."

Jun stopped walking suddenly and shot Kayura a look that anyone else might have said was angry. She understood it as confusion and fear and some degree of surprise. He said nothing to her, but whether it was because he was unable to think of a reply or because he was upset Kayura could not tell.

She turned to him with a disarming and benevolent smile and placed a comforting hand on his cheek. "Fate had more in store for you the day your parents died than an early death, my friend," she said quietly. "Your life was meant for greatness."

Jun recoiled at the touch but was not angry any more. He continued to stare at the ancient, too frightened to ask any questions of her yet not frightened enough to leave. She began walking once again and he fell into step at her side. The two did not exchange looks after that moment. Jun stared always at the ground before him, hands shoved in the pocket of his sweater, and seemed unaware that Kayura glanced occasionally his way.

At length the woman spoke again, confident in her tone. "I do not compliment you needlessly. I know your skills, your strengths and your weakness. You understand by now why you were summoned, I am sure, but you still choose to disbelieve it," she said and looked to the boy. His eyes remained firmly focused on the stone. "You are an excellent swordsman, judging by your old kendo records," she began again, looking confidently ahead. "And your fighting technique is impeccable."

"Brawls," said Jun absently. He was trying to dismiss her praise but found it difficult. "Fights over things that you wouldn't understand."

"Your world is not so complicated," said Kayura. "Nasté is brilliant, but naïve with regard to your life, she doesn't understand how you could've attracted the attention of the man you did. These are nuances that I understand."

Jun looked at her skeptically then, waiting for her revelation.

"You were—are—a drug runner," she said with a smile. "It's the logical fit to your predicament, explains your skill set very well. Your parents died, no family stepped up to help you, you were placed in a facility for parentless children, and you ran from there. A shame, you were young. I remember you called Nasté, you told her that you wouldn't be visiting any more, and that was the last she heard from you. The poor girl was so worried."

"I didn't have a choice but to leave that place," Jun said defensively, quietly. "They treated me like an animal."

"I do not judge your actions, I am only telling you what I know," she said, and then her face became very solemn. "But life does not merit such a grim outlook on your part. As wonderfully as you've developed your talents, you've grown cold. I know that there is passion in you, but I can't see it anywhere. It worries me. I fear that you won't be able to properly handle your responsibilities."

The two fell quiet once again and continued walking for a long while. Then the path ended at another square stone terrace, in the middle of which sat a squat wooden building, well-kept but woefully unadorned for a shrine. Kayura approached the building and slid open the door.

"I have summoned you," she said firmly and motioned her companion inside.

In the center of the floor stood the brilliant, black armor, mounted on a wooden stand. Beside it, on a small decorative table, sat a sheathed broad sword of which only the hilt was visible. It was black, to match the armor, with a flat disc pommel, a simple wrapped hilt, and a straight crossbar that ran perpendicular to the blade.

Jun approached the weapon cautiously and touched it.

"You can pick it up," Kayura said from the doorway.

He pulled the blade from its black leather scabbard and held it out before him. The blade was well weighted, though heavier than he imagined it would be, with a thin fuller and a decently sized ricasso just above the crossbar. The sword was beautiful and simple, a weapon designed for purpose rather than aesthetics.

"There is gold in that sword," Kayura said and approached the table. "If you hold it to the light just right you can see tiny flecks of the metal all along the blade. I do not know what purpose this serves, though it certainly does make the weapon a pretty thing."

Jun moved the blade around in the soft light of the shrine, though he could not see the gold that Kayura spoke of. He felt satisfied enough with the weapon and replaced it in its scabbard. "So?" He said, and looked at Kayura curiously. "This is why you called me here?"

She nodded and turned to face him squarely. "I know you," she said. "I know who you are, who you are meant to be. You are noble and honorable, and your skills match that of others who were called before you."

"I can't accept this," Jun said. "I don't know what I'm doing with it."

Kayura turned away and walked around the armor slowly. "You can accept it, but you don't believe you're worthy of it. You are wrong," she said, suddenly fierce. "There is no one else to take this burden and that is why I summoned you. You, of all of the people in this world, my friend, are the one that must take this. You are the only one who _can_ take this. You are the only one who can wield this armor in such a way that would fulfill its purpose."

Jun was silent for a long time after that. He regarded Kayura, who seemed now to fill her role as ancient more appropriately than ever, and the armor that sat cold and empty before him. "What do I have to do?" he said at last, resigned.

"The other warriors were taken. I do not know by who and I do not know to where, but I know that they were taken. Three weeks past, the last one disappeared," Kayura said and approached Jun again. "Then the mist came from the mountain. It has grown every day since the last warrior disappeared, and soon it will envelop this place. It will envelop everything in Japan if we do not find its source and eradicate it."  
"Mist?"

"It is the same that enveloped Toyama those years ago. Do you not remember?"

"I remember."

Kayura nodded her approval and continued. "You must wield this armor and venture out and into the mist. I believe that the other warriors are inside somewhere, and you must find them and bring them back to me. Once they are safe we must find out who took them and what their purpose was. From there you may be dismissed, if your duties are fulfilled, but I cannot say for sure whether that will be the case right now."

"So I take the armor," Jun said slowly, "go into this fog, find the others, and bring them back to you?"

Kayura nodded once more.

"Well, it sounds easy enough."

Ж

Nasté, Kayura, and Jun sat at the dining table in silence until long after dinner had concluded. Nasté had been understandably dumbfounded by the revelation that Jun had been called to arms, and Jun was too deep in thought to care about conversation.

So they sat while Kayura cleared the dishes away and produced a hot kettle of tea from the kitchen. She served her guests, then herself, and then sat. It seemed, from the air about her, that she was oblivious to the grim demeanor of her company.

"Did you research the files?" she said to Nasté between sips of tea. "Or the disappearances of the other five?"

Nasté seemed initially startled by the questions. "Yes, I researched the file," she said. "I found a little information the kidnappings but nothing on the armor." She glanced at Jun as she mentioned the armor but his gaze remained locked on his teacup. "There were some recent reports of heavy black fog all over japan, but no word from any scientific community."

"Begin with the boys," Kayura said. "What happened to them?"

Nasté shrugged and sipped at her tea. "There were no witnesses, but only Seiji was alone. The others were with family or in public at the time they were taken. Shu was with a rather large security detail at the time, he was the last to go. But no one can remember anything, nothing specific anyway. They all reported a sudden darkness, I imagine it was the haze that you photographed. Then they reported silence, and coldness all around, like the air in winter, and when the fog left the boys were gone."

"Why did Shu have guards?" Kayura asked.

"He knew that the others were gone. He must have wanted extra protection, but they were obviously of no use," said Nasté. "They reported the exact same phenomenon as everyone else."

Kayura nodded and felt suddenly disappointed. She did not want to send her newest and last remaining warrior into the complete unknown. "No help there, I suppose," she said. "What of the armor? Did your grandfather's files contain any relevant information?"

Nasté shook her head and looked worriedly at Jun again. He had not said a word since he and Kayura returned that afternoon, and had yet to touch his teacup. "Nothing," she said. "And I couldn't find anything outside of his files either."

The ancient sighed heavily then. "Then we must run under several assumptions until we know otherwise," she said. "We have to assume that the armor has no special powers and no sure-kill move of its own. It may not respond when called. All we do know is that it can and does provide under gear for its wielder when called."

"How do you know that?" Nasté asked.

Jun absently pulled at the neck of his sweater, revealing the shining black sub armor beneath. When he was satisfied that Nasté had seen it, he let go.

"The under gear is identical to the others," Kayura said, commanding Nasté's attention once more. "So it is my hope that the armor will function in the same way as the others, I have instructed Jun in that manner already. But because we don't know for certain how it will react to the fog we must assume the worst, just as I said."

"What am I going to tell them?" Jun said at last, startling the two women from their conversation. He looked between Kayura and Nasté with a blank expression. "When and if I find them, how will I explain myself?"

"Don't tell them anything," Kayura said matter-of-factly. "Those boys did not respect you as a child, despite the assistance you provided them. They viewed you as a liability and they probably do still. The others were brilliant fighters, full of virtue, but they were still somewhat immature."

"So I shouldn't tell them anything?"

"Don't tell them a thing," Kayura affirmed. "I worry that they will either disbelieve you or become distracted by your safety and well-being. Until you prove otherwise they will always see you as a vulnerable child. That could put all of you at risk in a tight spot."

"They'll recognize me."

Nasté smiled then. "I can help you with that," she said, then looked to Kayura. "Do you have any black cloth? Clothes or linens, something soft."

Kayura nodded.

"Then I can make a facemask," Nasté said. "All they'll be able to see will be your eyes. They'll be so surprised when you take it off."

"I think you missed the point," Jun said.

Kayura stood with a broad smile, feeling suddenly pleased with the work they had done. She looked at Jun and said "You should rest now. You will leave first thing tomorrow morning, as early as you are able. I will see you to the mist's edge, but from there you'll be alone. Go and make yourself ready."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3:

Jun was up before the dawn the next morning, and he and Kayura and Nasté set out in the darkness on the path toward the shrine. When they arrived at the building Jun stepped inside briefly, the armor still sat in the middle of the floor there, and beside it rested the sword. He sighed heavily and picked up the sword, regarded the armor one last time, hoping that it would indeed come when he summoned it, and stepped outside. He pulled the baldric over his head so the sword rested easily across his back, and approached the two women.

"Are you sure you're comfortable with this?" Nasté said.

Jun shrugged, adjusting his black hooded sweater underneath his sword. He had argued with Kayura for a while that morning, he didn't feel comfortable in the under gear alone, he felt naked and vulnerable and insisted vehemently that he wear his own clothes over it. "I'll feel a lot more comfortable once I've got a kanji orb in my hand and I know that the armor will come. The sword helps a bit," he said.

Nasté handed him the mask she had made for him the night before, a black rectangular cloth modeled after a surgeon's mask. It was fashioned with loops to fit over his ears and was created in such a way that it remained cool when on and allowed him to breathe and speak easily.

"If you head west from here you'll certainly run into the mist," Kayura said while Jun strapped on his mask. "If you are not back here by nightfall I will assume you've found the other warriors and are otherwise engaged."

Jun pulled up his hood and nodded. "Fair enough," he said.

"Good luck," Kayura said and placed a hand on his shoulder. "And do not forget that this is an opportunity for change, rebirth, and reintroduction. Do not spoil it."

Jun nodded again and turned away from the ancient, beginning his trek past the shrine into the heavily forested land beyond.

"Be careful!" Nasté called from behind, and then he was gone.

Ж

When Jun entered the haze it was as if he had stepped into an entirely new world, and he was suddenly glad for his face mask and decision to wear his warm street clothes. The air was cold and dry, so much so that the boy's breath could be seen in small puffs of white as he exhaled. His lungs burned with the frigid air and his fingers, despite the protection offered by the sub armor's gloves, grew numb. His joints began to ache the more he walked, and on more than one occasion he glanced behind him, wondering if perhaps he should turn back. But he could not see the edge of the fog.

All around him was dark, though if it was the haze or simple lightlessness Jun did not know. The world was gray and dull. Trees withered and their leaves fell to the ground, the forest grew sparse and bare. As he walked the grass turned brown, was soon gone altogether, and Jun was left treading on hard cracked earth. Huge jagged boulders jutted up from the ground in place of trees and the dry earth crumbled beneath his feet. The sky that opened up before him was cloudless, starless, and black.

Before him not more than a mile in the distance stood a single mountain peak. At its foot was a pillared stone structure, an entryway as much as Jun could tell, square and tall with a simple staircase that led between paired columns. As he drew closer he could see a door at the end of the columned platform that bore in a circular pattern the nine crests, arranged amongst symbols and runes that Jun did not recognize. The door was cold to the touch, so much so that Jun could feel it past the numbness of his fingers, and when he pushed the door open he felt a wind, an industrial fan blowing frigid air from a meat locker.

The room he stood in was long, a hallway of sorts, decorated in the same fashion as the outer door. Runes lined the walls from top to bottom and among them were carved the ancient symbols. The place was constructed of what could have been marble, but it was gray and black and dull. At its end was a great circular space with walls that stretched upward some fifty yards which were lined with sixteen unlit torches in sconces, and a wide open ceiling above. Jun looked up and could see stars, and he felt suddenly very small, insignificant, a warrior in a great coliseum with no one to bear witness to his war.

Jun steeled himself and crossed the room with some caution, uncertain of exactly what he might stumble across in the unfamiliar place. No sooner had he passed the halfway point when the ground beneath him began to tremble. A great shadow spread in the air, grew over the walls and floor, until the sky above was blotted out by a single colossal figure. Then, suddenly, there was wind that came in powerful surges. It beat down with such force that Jun was forced to take a knee.

There came a noise then, a long low growl that rose in volume and pitch until it sounded as a tremendous shrill scream. The walls shook in the cacophony, stones fell from the heights and Jun covered his head. The wind beat down hard on his back.

When the noise finally died away the boy looked up, frightened by the sudden sensory onslaught, and caught his breath as the shape looming above began to lower itself gradually downward. Each beat of its great white wings brought it closer and closer until finally it touched down at the room's northern wall near the entrance, softly for a beast of its considerable size, and let loose another deafening cry.

Jun scrambled across the wide room, putting as much space between himself and the dragon, for it was indeed a dragon, as he could as fast as he could. He looked all around for a safe place to hide and finding nothing on the room's perimeter he gazed upward to the sky. He was suddenly confused.

A red sphere hung in the center of the room, materialized from nothing in the time it had taken Jun to run the length of half the room, and Jun could swear he saw something inside of it though from such a distance it did not look as a human form should. He realized immediately that the dragon was the guardian of this place, of this room at any rate, and the only logical explanation was that Ryo was trapped above him in that ominous circle of light.

So Jun drew his sword and faced the beast before him, fighting to suppress his autonomic reaction. The dragon screeched again and lowered its head, readied itself to charge. Jun ran as the beast pumped its wings, propelling itself the length of the room in one leap. He jumped backward, colliding with the wall, and charged back.

First he charged forward, rushing between the wyrm's clawed feet, slashed at its legs. He cut sharp to the right, around its hind quarters, dodged the sweeping tail, and cut hard at the beast's flank. It roared and swiped at him madly. Jun dove to the ground as one of the massive claws rushed overhead and he laid there for what felt like forever.

He felt as a warrior, he recognized for the first time in his life his heartbeat, felt blood and adrenaline and endorphins flowing through his veins. His muscles corded and his vision grew sharp at its focus. He had no thought then, only instinct, and when he felt sudden, instant danger he pushed against the ground with all his might, sending himself into a long roll. The dragon's head crashed into the cold stone floor where Jun had been laying a heartbeat prior.

Jun jumped to his feet and rushed back in, swatting at the head until it recoiled. He jumped back again, avoiding another sweep of the claws. Each time the beast swung at him he rolled or dropped or dodged and retaliated with a barrage of swipes and stabs at its impenetrable outer scales.

It was during one of these rushes when suddenly the dragon whirled about, its spiked white tail dragging along the floor. Jun jumped back, though he knew it was futile to try and avoid the hit. He felt himself falling backward then, felt his back and head connect with the floor, and felt himself slide. The dragon screamed and lunged at its prone target.

Jun rolled away again to the side and connected with the right side of the dragon's mouth. Blood flowed freely from the wound, small as it was, and the dragon reared back and roared in pain. Jun got to his feet as fast as he could and rushed at the beast again. It was frenzied and desperate, and the dragon charged back. Jun tried to stop himself, to change his direction, but momentum carried him forward a second too long.

He felt first a burning pain in his side, he felt for an instant that he was back in school running distance against the clock, and then he felt wind rushing against his body. He was flying, though he did not know when he grew wings. He heard a sickening crack as his head connected with the wall, the air was blown from his lungs when his body connected a split second later. He slumped down, stunned and unmoving.

He heard the beast moving about the room, felt its footfalls as it lumbered slowly, wounded, across the space that Jun had just flown through. He heard its breath, its claws scraping against the stone, it hissed and growled low. He knew the thing was close but he could not will his body to move. He could not bring his eyes to open. His side was numb and hot and he felt a wet trickle down the back of his neck. He was scared, then unexpectedly angry.

The dragon lowered its head and snorted cold air in Jun's face. Then it turned its face, leaned its icy left eye close to its presumably dead prey. Jun sprang to action then, though he did not know from where the sudden strength came. His legs coiled and released and he lunged toward the beast's giant eye, sword held fast at his side. He thrust out then and felt weak resistance as the tip pierced the eye's outer membrane, then sunk fast into the tissue beneath.

The dragon stumbled away, too stunned and hurt by the impulsive action to react properly, to move out of the reach of its opponent. Jun ran blindly forward, hands held fast to the hilt of his sword, and he pushed as hard as he could. He felt the cold eye with his hand then, and continued to thrust. Before he knew what had transpired he was elbow deep in eyeball and the dragon laid still.

There was a sudden onslaught of sensation when Jun at last opened his eyes and wrenched his arm and sword from the dragon's head. He stumbled backward from the sudden release of the blade, and felt pain everywhere. His heart beat hard against his chest, his ears pulsed in rhythm. He sucked in great breaths of frigid air and fell to his knees. The floor was delightfully chill, and he bent forward, rested his forehead against the stone. Every muscle in his body shook violently and his head pounded with such an intense pain that he could scarcely keep his eyes open.

"Focus," he said, and pushed himself up. He kneeled on his hands and knees and stared hard at a small crack in the floor. He felt nauseous then, dizzy and weak. He repeated the word over and over, quietly, until at length he was able to survey the damage to the room.

The first thing Jun noticed were the sconces. The torches had flared to light and cast an orange glow and welcome warmth around the room. The floor was cracked and separated where the dragon stamped its feet and slammed its tail, the walls were caved and crumbled in places. A small smear of blood stained a stone on the west wall, and when Jun saw it he touched a hand gingerly to the back of his head then looked at his fingers, they were, not surprisingly, red with blood. "Shit," he said and pulled his hood back up as meager protection for the wound.

At length his muscles relaxed, his body stopped shaking, and Jun surveyed the rest of his body. He was concerned primarily with his head though he did make note of the sizeable and bloody four inch gash on his side. It was numb and, from what he could tell, not particularly deep. He was sad, initially, that his street clothes were all but shredded, but otherwise satisfied with his performance. So Jun made his way carefully to his feet, taking great care that he did not get dizzy again. The last thing he needed now was to lose consciousness.

"Who are you?"

Jun wheeled around on his heel and faced a perplexed, thoroughly angry Ryo. To Jun's relief, the man was healthy, obviously quite spirited, and wore his own under gear, a good sign that the armors might be responsive in this dangerous place. He touched his face, relieved that his mask had stayed put through the fight.

"Who are you?" Ryo said again and stepped forward. "Where am I?"

Jun held up his hands defensively before him. "I can't answer your questions. I don't know what this place is," he said, pointedly avoiding the initial question. "I'm here to help."

"Where are the others?"

Jun shrugged. "I would imagine they're trapped here just as you were," he said, then pointed at the southern wall of the coliseum where there now appeared a door. "That way."

"Where is Byakuen?"

Tired of the inquiry, Jun retrieved his sword from the floor and replaced it hastily in its baldric, then walked silently toward the southern door. He did not understand why Ryo thought he would have any answers at all, unless Ryo believed that Jun was one of those responsible for his kidnapping. But he wasn't, he had no answers, and he had made that as abundantly clear as he could. Any assumptions that Ryo made at that point were his own and Jun resolved not to acknowledge them.

Ryo followed quietly across the room, and if he took any note of the damaged space he gave no indication. He stepped in front of Jun as they reached the door and looked him straight in the eyes. "I don't know who you are," he said, "but I can only trust that you're here to help." He extended his hand. "Sanada Ryo."

Jun was unsure how to react to the unnecessary introduction. But then he realized that such formality was unnecessary only for himself, and Jun swelled with pride. Ryo truly had no idea who his savior was, and so Jun clasped his hand firmly. "Let's be on with it, then."

Ж

The two warriors entered a large square room constructed of the same stone brick as the last, the walls some twenty feet long on each side with a tall but visible ceiling. A flickering torch hung at the midpoint of each wall and the room was otherwise completely bare. Against the wall in the far left corner sat a large cage with thick bars of rusted silver metal. Byakuen laid in one of the corners, peaceful and seemingly unaware of the two men who stood in the doorway.

"Byakuen," Ryo said quietly and rushed to the cage. He called the cat two more times before it raised its head to acknowledge him. The tiger stood and approached its master with a whimper. It seemed unhurt, if a bit weak, and stared at Ryo with as confused an expression as a big cat could muster. Ryo patted it on the head and turned to face Jun. "We have to get him out of here," he said.

Jun was busy scanning the room for traps and keys and shadows for dangerous monsters to hide in. He spotted a glint on the right wall, though he made no immediate mention of it, and approached the cage. "Byakuen is all right," he said optimistically and regarded his companion who seemed uncharacteristically distraught by his captive pet. "There's some metal object, probably a key, shoved between the bricks over there." He directed Ryo's attention to the spot, a misaligned brick halfway up the wall from which shone a faint gleam, a reflection from the torchlight.

Ryo looked at the thing for a moment and approached it cautiously. He was within arm's reach of the wall when he felt his foot sink into the floor. He caught his breath and heard Byakuen roar behind him. Then he was falling, the floor had vanished beneath his feet.

As soon as he realized the peril Jun reacted. Two bounding strides and a dive later he was on his stomach, half fallen into the gaping hole himself, grasping a surprised Ryo's forearm. The pain hit him as soon as he realized that he was down, leaning hard on the wound in his side. It burned and ached so fiercely that Jun felt nauseous. He reeled. He heard Ryo thank him in an astonished tone, felt the weight shift as his companion pulled himself up, and laid there for a long while afterward.

"Are you all right?" Ryo asked when Jun finally extracted himself from the trap and sat, out of breath, on the ground beside him.

Jun waved Ryo's concern away dismissively and looked about the room once more. "That isn't a key," he said. "It was a decoy. And that means that there is some other mechanism around here that we have to find."

Ryo stood and began cautiously picking his way around the perimeter of the room, searching for anomalies in the stone, cracks or discolored stones, jutting rocks, he secretly hoped for a button or a switch. And while Ryo searched the walls meticulously Jun stood and approached Byakuen's cage. Ryo turned and watched Jun walking slowly around the cage, though he could not tell if the boy was looking at the walls, the cage, or the tiger inside. "Be careful," he called. "Byakuen doesn't take kindly to strange people."

Jun kneeled in front of the tiger and pulled his mask down. He reached through the bars and tenderly touched the tiger's head. "Byakuen," he said and the cat issued a low growl. "It's me, it's Jun, remember?"

Byakuen sniffed at Jun's hand for a moment, and then nuzzled against his arm. Jun nodded his approval when the tiger sat at attention before him, and he pulled his mask back up.

"I need to get on top of this cage," Jun said, leaning close to the bars. "But I can't reach it on my own. I'm hurt. I need you to lift me as high as you can."

Byakuen inched as close as it could to the cage, bowed down low in front of the boy, and closed its eyes. Jun offered his thanks and gingerly placed his foot between the tiger's shoulders and gripped the cage bars. As Byakuen pushed him up Jun climbed with his arms in an attempt to take as much of his weight off of the weakened tiger as he could. Soon Jun grasped the top bar of the cage, scrambled atop it, and planted his feet firmly on the crossbars.

Ryo approached the cage, confused by his pet's warm reaction to the strange boy, and looked up. He realized then that he was perhaps more perplexed by the fact that he boy had completely ignored Ryo's warning about the dangerous animal, had tamed it, and used it in a way that Ryo should likely have done himself.

Meanwhile Jun picked his way carefully toward the corner of the room, leaning against the wall to maintain his balance. He ran his hands along the stone and searched carefully for any indication of a release for the cage. He felt the prison shake when Ryo pulled himself up to stand beside him, though he did not look to his companion at any point.

"How did you tame my cat?" Ryo said and leaned against the wall, watching closely as the mysterious boy crept closer to the corner of the room. "He treated you as a friend."

Jun shrugged and shot Ryo a glance. "Instinct, probably," he said and pushed his hand into the corner. He smiled when his fingers sank into a space between the walls. "This wall should move." He made his way to the edge of the cage, his hand following the space along the intersection of the ceiling and the wall. He jumped down then and knelt, ran his fingers into a similar space on the floor. Then he stood and stepped back, following the space in the stone.

"What are you doing?" Ryo said and sat atop the cage, his legs dangling free over the edge.

Jun moved along the wall until he was in the opposite corner, methodically pushing and pulling against the stones. "The cage doesn't have a back wall," he said, and Ryo looked. "There's a space between this wall and the surrounding planes, it stops a couple of feet this side of the cage. I'm willing to bet that there's a switch over here that will move the wall." He paused for a while and stared at the stones, then moved to the corner. "It would make the most sense to integrate that kind of mechanism with the cornerstone," he said and poked at the lowest brick.

Ryo jumped down from the cage and approached Jun cautiously, still unsure exactly what the boy was talking about. But he stopped short as the room began to shake and dust fell from the trembling wall. The stones rumbled and scraped as they slid slowly to the left, freeing the tiger and opening the way forward. Byakuen bounded from the cage and roared triumphantly.

"The cornerstone," Jun said and stood to face Ryo. "Always the best place to start."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 4:

The companions realized then that they were indeed inside of the mountain. The polished stone of the prior rooms was nowhere in sight and in its place was unrefined natural stone. The place was dim though torches lined the walls in intervals, and silent as death. The ceiling was barely visible in the firelight. It hung with massive stalactites. They could see no exit.

"Impressive," Ryo said.

Jun offered no reply as he stepped farther into the cave. The joy of discovering the opening mechanism to this place was gone, and he felt suddenly dizzy. He looked to Ryo and Byakuen, giving no indication of his condition, and sighed. "It's the same as the room you came from," he said.

"What?"

"We're going to walk to the center of this room and then we'll be ambushed. I don't know by what or by whom, but it's too good a place for an attack."

Ryo nodded, produced his kanji orb, and called himself to arms.

Nothing happened.

Ryo was flustered and confused. He called his armor again but it would not accept the summons. He looked to Jun with a shrug. "I don't know what the problem is," he said. "I've got no arms. This one will have to be on you."

Jun breathed deep and motioned for Ryo and Byakuen to stay close as he inched his way deeper into the cavern. When he reached the midpoint he stopped and looked around, genuinely surprised that nothing had yet happened. He looked around once again and pointed toward the ceiling. "Look," he said to Ryo, and the man looked up.

There hang a dark circle amongst the stalactites, barely visible in the murk. Jun explained quickly the significance of the bubble and Ryo nodded his understanding. Try as they might, neither warrior could discern the color of the sphere.

Jun became nervous as the minutes passed. He assumed that some giant monster would appear in the darkness in conjunction with the spherical prison that hung in the air, but nothing came. He thought for a moment that perhaps he and Ryo were in the wrong place, but as he contemplated it he realized that their path was completely linear. At no point could they have gone a different direction.

Byakuen issued a low grown and perked its ears up. The fur on its back stood on end and Jun was immediately on the alert.

The ground shook once, for a brief moment, and Ryo and Jun exchanged looks of trepidation. At length the ground shook again and the two heard the rocky crash of a stalactite smashing against the ground. The tremors grew more frequent and soon Jun could hear a low thudding noise, as of giant footfalls. They came first from the right, then from the left, and alternated until they came so quickly that neither Ryo nor Jun could say from which direction the sound was coming. The cavern filled with what sounded like a thousand beating drums, accented by the sound of crashing stalactites.

The din stopped for a moment and Byakuen let out a tremendous predatory roar. Jun and Ryo looked all around until their gazes came to rest on two pairs of beady blue eyes that glowed from either side of the cavern.

"What is it?" Ryo asked, his voice no more than a hoarse whisper.

"A pair," Jun replied as he drew his sword. He assumed a defensive posture and felt suddenly lightheaded as the adrenaline began to rush. He prayed silently that his wounds wouldn't hinder him in the fight.

From the darkness rushed twin beasts shaped as giant ravens. Their heads were wreathed in blue-tipped black feathers and their long dark beaks and black wings were adorned with thick metal armor plates. They let out a long, low croak as they charged, their scythe-like talons scraped against the floor and their wings flapped angrily.

"Birds?" Ryo gaped in confusion. "Really?"

"Run!" Jun cried, and rushed out of the path of the angry birds. He looked back as Ryo dove away and the two ravens rushed by each other and continued their charge to the outer walls of the room. When Ryo had gotten to his feet Jun called and pointed at the bird on the east side of the room. "You take that one!" He said. "Hold it off until I can dispatch the other. Just distract it, don't be a hero."

Ryo was initially offended by Jun's final statement, but it seemed insignificant when he looked about the room and realized the full extent of their peril. Presently, the raven to the west was beating its wings angrily as Jun charged against the heavy wind. It lifted off the ground just as the boy came into range, but the flight was useless. The hooded boy jumped, planted a foot firmly on the wall, and launched himself within easy reach of his avian adversary, scoring a solid hit on its wing.

"He knows what he's doing, I'll give him that," Ryo uttered quietly and turned his attention back to his charge. He jumped on Byakuen's back, urged the tiger forth, and the two blitzed the second bird at full speed.

Ryo jumped from the tiger's back and ran deftly in front of the raven, attracting its attention immediately. Ryo felt a rush of wind as the bird's massive sharp beak snapped closed at his back. He thought as he ran how absurd he must look, retreating from a giant bird while his tiger chased it down from behind. He shot a glance to the other side of the room and caught a glimpse of his mysterious companion in the midst of a dive-turned-shoulder-roll between his opponent's legs. He saw the glint of metal flash against the bird's thick leg and it staggered off to the side, allowing the boy to rush away to safety.

Ryo shook his head and looked behind him. Byakuen was gaining ground, and as Ryo turned back around he heard a roar as the tiger pounced atop the great bird. The warrior ran until he was satisfied that he was no longer the raven's primary target, and turned to survey the work of his great cat.

Byakuen bit down on the bird's neck and raked and clawed with its hind paws, showering the room in bright blood and flying feathers. The bird thrashed and squealed and beat its wings ferociously against the onslaught. Finally it threw itself into a violent sidelong roll, effectively ejecting the cat, and as soon as it righted itself it took flight, disappearing amongst the stalactites.

Ryo rushed first to his stunned cat and, once satisfied that Byakuen was all right, dashed to the center of the room with his eyes locked on his embattled companion. The grounded raven was hurt badly, its right wing dragged limply on the ground and its left leg bled heavily from several devastating slices. It seemed that the black-clad boy had a significant advantage in the fight.

Jun, seeing the running wildfire in his periphery, glanced over for a moment. He was confused by the sudden disappearance of the other bird yet too occupied with his own opponent to give it much additional thought. He threw his sword out in front of him, parrying aside a hard snap from his adversary's curved beak. The force sent him sprawling backward and then the great raven was on him, hopping and snapping at his body. Jun did what he could to deflect the talons, utilizing the meager protection that his under gear's armguards offered. He sliced desperately with his weapon when he could, and rolled and twisted against stamping feet when he could not.

He heard a cry from the side and a loud thud, saw a brief red flash amongst the black and blue down, and the raven was suddenly falling away toward the wall. He realized immediately that Ryo had charged the injured bird and tackled it unceremoniously to the ground, but Jun was dazed and winded and could not bring himself to move, and so he lay prone.

"Watch out!" Ryo cried and Jun looked up immediately. The other bird rocketed down from the darkness, locked in a death dive toward Jun as he lay motionless on the ground. Ryo half jumped, half dove toward his companion and scooped him in one arm as he rushed from the path of the giant raven. The wind produced by the bird's wings pushed Ryo off his feet. The two warriors were sent sprawling and the bird, too close to the ground to halt its descent, crashed clumsily into the ground and slid into its twin, frantically beating its wings and stamping its feet in a futile attempt to stop its momentum. The two birds rolled in a tangle of legs and wings and feathers and blood and crashed with a deafening crack against the stone wall.

Ryo cringed when the birds hit and looked down at Jun, who lay on his side, eyes closed, and winded beside him. "Are you okay?" he said. "That was some pretty fancy swordsmanship."

Jun sat up slowly and stared blankly at the two birds that now lay in a motionless heap against the wall. "I don't think they're dead," he panted and retrieved his fallen sword from the ground beside him. He laid the bloody blade across his lap and watched as one of the ravens moved slightly and issued a long weak croak. Jun wiped the sweat from his forehead with the sleeve of his sweater, shredded by the bird's knife-like talons, and blew a heavy sigh. "We're not done here."

Ryo and Jun stood as the raven began untangling itself from its quite dead twin. Byakuen stepped in front of the two warriors defensively and let loose a piercing roar. It stepped back toward Ryo and Jun and looked toward the ceiling.

No sooner was the bird on its feet when its head shot suddenly skyward with a loud snap and its body fell limp, pierced through the neck by a falling stalactite. Its head thumped to the ground and blood flowed from its beak.

Ryo regarded the dead birds for a moment, thinking it a rather poetic ending for such a beast. Then he turned about, looked toward the ceiling, and watched as the dark sphere began to lower to the ground. Beside him, Jun struggled to his hands and knees, coughing and retching. Ryo glanced at him curiously and dismissed the understandable reaction, the smell and sight of the dead monsters was truly disgusting, and approached the center of the room where the sphere touched down and dissipated.

"Toma," Ryo said happily and knelt beside his seated and quite confused friend, who looked at him with surprise.

"Where are we?" Toma asked and looked to the side of the room where the birds lay in a bloody pile. "What happened here?"

Ryo shrugged uncertainly. "I don't know," he replied. "All I know is this kid came in here and is knocking stuff around all over the place."

"A kid?"

Ryo motioned across the room toward Jun, who by this time had suppressed his nausea and righted himself. He stood, and replaced his sword in the baldric, then faced the two warriors and gave a meek wave as he approached.

"That kid?" Toma said skeptically.

Ryo pulled Toma to his feet and turned to introduce him to Jun. "This is Toma," he said to Jun.

Jun extended his hand and Toma stared at it and quirked his eyebrow, and then held up his hand defensively. Jun looked at his hand and quickly retracted it: it was covered in blood and bits of bird flesh. "Sorry," he said hastily and wiped his hand on the back of his thoroughly destroyed sweater. He gave Toma a quick salute and walked away.

"Who are you?" Toma asked. Ryo sighed heavily, understanding that Toma was about to undertake the same line of questioning he had initially.

Jun looked over his shoulder with a smirk. "A big damn hero."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 5:

The three warriors walked through a long low tunnel that wove generally downhill. There was no light to speak of and Jun led his companions slowly, his right hand pressed against the right wall as some measure of guidance while his left rested ever on Byakuen's shoulder. He stepped slowly and listened intently for any noise that could provide some orientation, but the only sound was the clicking of their armored boots on the stone. Ryo and Toma chatted in hushed tones at his back, whispering about the circumstances of their personal disappearances and the similarities between them.

"I don't really remember much of it," Toma said. "It got dark and hazy, and then everything went black. I've got nothing from that point until now."

Ryo pondered this revelation and looked forward to Jun. "You're from outside, right?"

Jun looked over his shoulder, slowing his pace. "Me?"

"Yes, you," Ryo said. "Do you know how long we've been gone? If you were sent in here after us then you must know something about what happened."

Jun shrugged and turned his focus forward. "Three weeks, I think it's been, since the last one of you went," he said, recalling vaguely the information he had received from Kayura and Nasté. "But that's as much as I know."

Ryo shot Toma a skeptical look. The two shared a mutual understanding that, until proven otherwise, the mysterious boy was the prime suspect in their collective kidnapping. The theory didn't explain why he was helping them or why he would put himself so far into harm's way to ensure their safety, but the two warriors didn't concern themselves with such technicalities. Their priority was finding the other three and they were more than willing to work with the seemingly harmless boy until that had been accomplished.

Jun stopped suddenly when the wall fell abruptly away from his hand. He felt around the rock and turned back to his companions. "There's a fork," he said, wandered inside, and followed the path for several yard before turning back. "I think we need to take it, it feels warm down there."

Toma poked his head around the corner with an expression of uncertainty. "Warmth is your only indication that we're going the right direction?"

Jun motioned for the warriors to follow. "It's better than having no indication at all," he said, and began down the new path. This way was more treacherous, the smooth floor of the prior tunnel was gone and in its place were sharp, jagged stones and steep sudden drops. It spiraled down at a severe angle, and after a while a dim red light began to seep into the dark space.

"At least we can see," Toma said, and though no one said anything the others certainly agreed. The light was much welcome against the stifling darkness of the tunnels, even if the now overbearing heat was not.

Eventually the tunnel leveled off and the floor became smooth once more. The light was bright and red and the stone around them radiated with dry heat. As the company progressed the tunnel grew wide, its ceiling elevated and, at last, it opened into another spacious cavern, smaller than the last though still large enough to dwarf the three men.

The whole of the cavern was bathed in a bright red-orange glow from its cratered floor to its high, smooth ceiling. Large holes perforated the stone and stretched downward, though how far down they went none of the men could be certain, and the walls and ceiling were pocked with great outcroppings of jagged and vaguely round boulders.

Jun stopped at the entrance to the cavern and turned to his companions, wiped the sweat from his brow, and looked between them. "I regret that you can't call yourselves to arms right now," he said quietly. "I don't like the look of this place, nor the heat. But it looks safe enough, given the circumstance. Ryo, you know what's going to happen. Toma, be prepared for a fight."

He turned then and led his two friends into the great room. They fanned out among the room and looked about, trying to understand the new terrain and the advantage or disadvantage it might hold for battle. The companions met around a hole in the center of the floor, much larger than the others, and peered inside. A long distance below could be seen a bright red-orange light so intense that it burned their eyes. Heat radiated from the flow and the warriors backed away.

"There's lava down there," Toma said, regarding Ryo with concern. "It seems like this would be a room best suited for your armor."

Ryo shrugged and looked up. He was startled to see a bright orange sphere hanging near the ceiling. "The other logical fit," he said and pointed up.

Jun again wiped the sweat from his forehead and breathed deep. He felt strange, though he could not say exactly what it was that troubled him. His whole body ached with a dull pain and he remained faintly dizzy and nauseated from the battle for Toma's freedom. He thought for a while and touched the wound on the back of his head tenderly; it seemed to have healed well enough over the last few hours if he had to judge by the dry blood matting his hair. Satisfied that the head wound was not the source of his ailment he looked to the gash on his side. He lifted his sweater tentatively and bit his lower lip in frustration. His under gear was torn between armored plates and the gash showed through plainly. It was an ugly and angry wound with a bruised halo of red, black, and blue. It did not bleed freely, but it burned slightly and had yet to begin healing.

"Are you okay?" Ryo asked a third time, and put his hand on the boy's shoulder.

Jun shrugged him off, suddenly very cold. "I'm fine, just back off," he said and dropped his sweater. He turned to face Ryo squarely then, his brow furrowed in anger. "And who are you to give a damn, anyway? Do you honestly think I haven't heard you and your buddy accusing me of kidnapping you? I'm not stupid."

Ryo stepped back, dumbfounded by the sudden outburst. He shot a glance to Toma, who shrugged his reply, and returned his gaze to the boy. "I wasn't trying to offend you," he said apologetically.

"Save it," Jun snapped and turned away from his two companions. He looked around the room and, after a moment, felt suddenly and inexplicably ashamed. He didn't know why he raised his voice like that, he knew Ryo well enough to understand that the man was truly offering help regardless of his unfounded suspicion. Such an emotional surge was completely uncharacteristic, besides, and it concerned Jun greatly that he was unable to keep himself in check. He thought briefly of apologizing, but stopped short.

The wall opposite the entrance shifted slightly, so slightly that the warriors would never have known it moved had it not been for the loud grating of stone crushed by stone. As the wall moved pebbles and dust fell to the floor and several large boulders teetered precariously on uneven plateaus. A large crack shot up then, bisecting the wall from the floor to one boulder lodged half the distance to the ceiling. The boulder quivered as the wall continued to shift and the crack continued to splinter until it fell with a crash to the floor, leaving a sizeable black hole in its place.

"Ideas?" Jun said, forgetting at once his confrontation with Ryo. But as he looked between his two befuddled friends he knew that they would offer no answers.

When Jun turned his attention back to the wall a host of alien looking humanoids had begun to pour forth from the void. They were short and dark things and it seemed to Jun that their grainy texture and dullness smacked suspiciously of basalt. The figures had no face to speak of, but rather a flat vertical block rested where their face should have been.

A dozen of the figures lined up in ranks near the wall though they seemed initially to take no note of the companions. The sentinels stood utterly unmoving and remained that way long after the warriors thought they would attack.

"Are they inanimate?" Toma asked at length. He wore an expression of concern and confusion and glanced between Ryo and Jun expectantly.

"Doubtful," Jun said. "They lined up as they fell; they're intelligent enough to form ranks." He walked toward the things then, surveying their dense bodies with genuine interest. Toma, Ryo, and Byakuen followed, seeing no danger in the inspection, and the companions waded through the ranks comfortably.

"They're little stone men," Ryo said as he walked the perimeter of the group. He bent low to examine one of them more closely. "They must be guardians, but it doesn't make any sense for them to be so passive."

Ryo reached out tentatively and touched one of the sentinels on its arm, and as If Ryo had triggered some switch the thing sprang to life, red eyes glowing behind the smooth rock face, and struck the warrior with such swift force that he flew several feet backward and slid gracelessly into the wall where he lay unmoving in a heap amongst the fallen rocks. Then, one by one, the other sentinels woke and were immediately aggressive.

The sudden onslaught was no trouble for Toma who, after seeing his friend's unfortunate and violent impact, rushed out of the ranks to his aid. He was all clear from the now angry mob, as safe as he could be under the circumstances, and so was Ryo. But Jun and Byakuen stood in an entirely unenviable position. The sentinels threw themselves at the pair, who dodge and swatted against them ineffectively. They were overwhelmed; each sentinel they dispatched was replaced by another, then another in an endless offense.

"Help!" Jun cried.

Toma turned, stunned by the desperate call. He looked then at Ryo, dazed and disoriented, but apparently regaining consciousness. Then he turned back to Jun and Byakuen. He felt no particular loyalty to the boy but could not think of standing by to watch him be crushed, and so he left Ryo to fend for himself and jumped into the fray.

Jun, by this time, had produced his blade and swung it wildly, as a baseball player swinging a bat, connecting with enemies left and right. Most of the hits that landed were superficial smacks with the flat of the blade, but some connected with the razor edge and bit deep into the stone sending chips and dust flying. Between frantic swings Jun disengaged backward toward the center of the room, but he never managed more than a few steps at a time.

Byakuen did not fare much better. The great tiger swatted and charged the stone figures when it could find an offensive opportunity, when it was charged it reared back and launched into a furious series of swipes with both front paws. When the tiger was cornered it would jump deftly to safety. Periodically the cat would charge one of the figures and send it flying from the group, rendering the lumbering thing ineffective for at a few moments.

Toma offered no real offensive advantage and he understood that keenly. Lamenting his inability to call his arms he instead played defensively, luring the sentinels that Jun and Byakuen dispatched away from the group. So he ran around his two embattled companions, throwing stones as he could to draw the attacking creatures' attention toward him rather than the already overwhelmed fighters. He did not know what such action would accomplish, but the mob of sentinels grew behind him with every rock he cast their way.

In the meantime Ryo watched it all with confusion and some small degree of sadistic amusement from his seat beside the wall. The whole situation seemed very surreal to him, from the fight that took place now to the battle for Toma and what little he knew of his own disappearance. It was all so absurd, so unrealistic. The enemies here were nothing like those that came with the dynasty invasion, they were not spirits, they were not humans, and they were not demons. It was as if the warriors fought against figments of an imagination that was not their own.

But the desperation and ferocity of his friends was real. The danger to them was severe. And so was the pain coursing through Ryo's head and shoulder. Try as he might he could not move his right arm, could not recall his impact, and he cursed quietly at the rash move that had landed him in such an unfortunate position.

Ryo turned his attention back to the fight, now paying particularly close attention to the black-clad boy who, to this point, had offered no help in answering any of the questions he'd been presented. He had offered no rationale for his physical assistance and yet had thrown himself into several potentially deadly situations with abandon. It was as if the mysterious boy had some huge stake in the success of the five warriors, but Ryo could not guess his true motivation.

The boy was almost as unreal as their situation; he was so cool, calm, and unemotional. He was detached, Ryo thought, almost apathetic. He spoke little and said only things that would either advance their mission or end the constant line of questioning from Ryo and Toma, and he always spoke quietly with measured words. Every move the kid made and every word the kid said was highly calculated.

But that outburst, Ryo thought, was telling. The boy was hiding something, he was afraid or at the very least concerned. Despite his valiant fighting and unwavering stoicism Ryo understood that there existed a pervasive fear. He could see it all over the boy's half-hidden face.

When the two had met some hours before the kid had been alert, energetic, and his wit was sharp. But as they progressed he grew ever more sluggish, in mind and body, and while anyone watching the present battle would believe that all of the combatants were in peak condition Ryo knew otherwise. The kid was in pain, but he wouldn't acknowledge it to anyone but himself, and maybe not even that much. The kid was the hero. He didn't want to worry anyone. He was doing the saving and didn't want anyone to feel like they had to save him.

Presently the three fighters were dispatching the stone sentinels with ease. Toma ran the great mob about the center of the room in a wide circle while Jun and Byakuen, standing inside Toma's path, dispatched the stone men one by one. Byakuen batted them easily away and Jun broke them down with his sword. When a sentinel was deemed weak enough to pose little threat Jun would rush them, give a mighty horizontal swing with his sword, and send them plummeting down one of the holes in the floor. It was a clever plan, Ryo thought as he lay there watching, break and chip the stone sentinels apart until they lost significant body mass, then send them flying. He felt sorely disappointed that he had not thought of it.

Before long the last sentinel was gone, kicked by Toma with finality into the great central fissure, and Byakuen gave a roar of victory. Jun looked at Toma and nodded his thanks, and then the two warriors turned their collective attention to Ryo.

"It looks as though our fearless leader has had a slight mishap," Jun said and looked to Toma. "Stay here and take care of Shu once he's released. I'll take care of Ryo."

Toma nodded and hid his immediate curiosity. He found it odd that Ryo had introduced the boy to him as if the boy didn't know who they were, but the kid knew Shu's name without having so much as seen his face. By extension, Toma reasoned, the boy had to know that the armor of kongo was orange in color and that Shu was its bearer. Toma wondered very much what else the boy secretly knew.

When the orange sphere dissolved Toma explained quickly what he knew of the situation and what he knew, or suspected, of their strange companion. Shu, who was quite confused and irate to begin with, understood and offered no comment. Toma helped Shu to his feet and the two approached Jun and Ryo.

Jun sat cross legged in front of Ryo and was gingerly feeling around his head. His face was plastered with concern and he issued a long sigh. "It looks like you've got a decent sized knot back here," he said quietly and looked up at Toma. "Was he unconscious when he hit?"

Toma nodded.

Jun turned back to Ryo and contemplated for a moment. "Ryo, do you recall the impact?"

Ryo shook his head. "My arm hurts," he said.

"What's your name?" Jun said, launching into a line of simple questions to which Ryo initially responded with confusion.

"Sanada Ryo."

"How old are you?"  
"Twenty-seven."

Jun contemplated this for a moment and nodded. "What is your virtue?"

Ryo looked dumbly at Jun for a moment as if he had no idea what the boy was talking about, and if he did know what the boy was talking about he wondered how he knew about the virtues.

"What is the virtue of your armor?" Jun said again, more emphatically.

"Righteousness."

"Good," Jun said.

"What is going on here?" Shu said loudly and Jun looked immediately to him and Toma.

"I think your friend is concussed," Jun said. "Though it doesn't seem to be severe, he should be fine in an hour or two." He turned back to Ryo then and pointed at his arm. "You said your arm hurt?"

Ryo nodded absently and looked to Toma and Shu. "Don't let me do something that stupid again," he said and then looked to Jun, who slid his left hand tenderly under Ryo's upper arm and grasped his forearm gently with his right. Then he began moving the arm slowly, rotating the shoulder around in a circle, upward and then back down.

"Aren't you young to be a doctor?" Toma said.

Jun shook his head. "I'm not," he said, deliberately turning the question aside. "I've just seen enough head trauma to know a concussion when I see one." He released Ryo's arm in its resting position and took his hand, bent each finger individually, flexed the wrist, then flexed the elbow. "Did any of that hurt?"

Ryo shook his head once more.

"You're fine, then," Jun said to him and stood. "You're just badly bruised." He turned to Toma and Shu then and was surprised by their skeptical expressions. He understood their disbelief but could honestly offer no explanation that would make any sense given what little they knew of him. "It's going to be slow going for a while," he said. "Ryo will be uneasy on his feet and we've got to backtrack to the main tunnel. It won't be easy with him in his condition."

"We could stop for a while," Toma said. "Rest up. Debrief."

Jun shook his head, ignoring Toma's heavy suspicious tone, and began walking toward the exit, leaving Toma and Shu to collect their fallen companion. "There isn't time to rest," he said, and he didn't look back.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 6:

The party walked in silence and darkness for a long time. They had rejoined the main tunnel a while ago and were presently walking in what Toma estimated to be a westerly direction, but the tunnel wound and wove randomly and their present course could really only be described as forward. The path continued with a slight uphill grade and, despite having no inclination as to where they were, the warriors felt glad knowing that eventually they would be above ground once more.

Byakuen led the group along the way and Ryo rested comfortably on its back. The warrior drifted periodically in and out of sleep and spoke randomly and to no one in particular, uttering nonsensical phrases about home and food and comfort. Each time Ryo spoke Toma and Shu, ever concerned for their companion's well-being, would turn to Jun for some reassurance. And each time they looked at him Jun would break his gaze from the ground and wave their concern away dismissively.

After a while Ryo woke and sat upright and looked around the tunnel. He seemed alert and lucid. He looked between Toma and Shu and asked expected questions: what happened, where they were, and how long he had been asleep. Toma and Shu responded with expected answers as if the entire inquiry was a routine occurrence.

"How is the kid?" Ryo said at last and his question was met with confusion.

"What do you mean?" Shu asked.

Ryo shrugged. Even he was uncertain exactly why he had asked the seemingly random question. Yes, the boy was hurt and Ryo was concerned about it, but Toma and Shu did not know that. At any rate, Ryo reasoned, such an independent young man could take care of himself. There was really no need to feel so concerned, and yet the feeling still nagged at him. He turned around on Byakuen's back and looked to the boy thoughtfully.

Jun had intentionally separated himself from the other warriors and, for their privacy and his own, followed some significant distance behind. He thought that the three warriors would want to speak amongst themselves, to discuss their common concerns, and try to come to a reasonable conclusion about their situation. And Jun wanted to be alone, anyway. As he walked he thought about his pervasive nausea, exhaustion, and the intense burning sensation that radiated from the gash on his side.

He figured that the whole thing was mental, something akin to mass hysteria. His mind believed that his injuries were far more extensive than they actually were so his body responded by producing the symptoms that his mind prescribed. He checked his wounds often in a vague attempt to clear his mind of worry, and each time he did he felt certain that they were not serious enough to merit such a severe reaction. The scrape on his head was minor, almost superfluous by now, and the gash, while certainly an ugly thing, was shallow and clean and had not bled for some time. He felt almost as if it was beginning to heal. But nothing explained why he continued to feel worse the farther he walked, the harder he worked. If anything he believed that all the activity would take his mind away from the pain, but it only made it more intense.

After a while the tunnel straightened out of a wide left curve and climbed at a sudden steep angle. The change of terrain was initially jarring and drew the party's collective attention to the task at hand once more. As they walked a light began to fill the tunnel, emanating from a single flickering point in the distance.

Byakuen slowed to a halt and growled low.

Toma looked back to Jun as the boy approached the stalled group and offered him a sarcastic smile. "I hope you're well rested," he said. "It looks like there's fun ahead."

Jun shot Toma a cold glare and pushed roughly past him, Shu, and Byakuen to take the point position. He offered no reply to Toma's biting remark and instead walked toward the light. Ryo dismounted from Byakuen carefully and led the group behind.

At the tunnel's end was a wide square room, dimensionally similar to a large ballroom or conference hall, with a high ceiling and an open exit directly across the way. The place was well lit by large decorative braziers that lined the walls in evenly spaced intervals, each containing within it a bright and unnatural yellow fire.

The whole place was eerie. It was quiet, silent even, and there were no obvious traps or threats to be seen. The room offered no opportunity for a surprise ambush and the rock of the floor and walls was too smooth and unbroken to contain any hidden doors.

So the party entered and took inventory of the largely empty space, each man alert and on his guard. Eventually their eyes were drawn to the left of the door where there stood an elaborate shrine. Two tall poles were embedded in the stone floor and a yellow flame burned uncontained atop each. Between the torches sat a small black blanket and sitting atop the blanket was Seiji. His eyes were closed, he wore his full under gear, and he sat in a traditional meditative position. His legs were crossed and his hands rested relaxed on his knees. He was so still that the on looking warriors feared him paralyzed or dead.

Behind Seiji sat the armor of halo.

"Seiji," Ryo cried and he, Toma, and Shu rushed toward him. They covered half of the distance before they suddenly stopped, confused and afraid.

Seiji extended his right arm and held up his hand. "Stop!" he said. He lowered his hand. His eyes were closed still and his voice was low, quiet, and uncharacteristically cold. "My business is not with you."

"What?" Toma said quietly. "What are you talking about?"

Seiji furrowed his delicate brow and behind him the green armor stood slowly. "My business is with the boy," he said and the armor leveled its nodachi at Jun, who stood in stunned silence near the center of the room.

"Who are you?" Jun said and the tremble in his voice was quiet obvious. "What the hell do you want?"

Seiji smirked. "Your parents weep for you," he said and Jun balked. "They regret what you have become."

Shu turned angrily to Jun then. "What does he mean? Are you responsible for this?"

Jun ignored Shu and stepped forward. "My parents are dead, they don't have the capacity to regret anything," he said defiantly.

"Your parents are burning," Seiji replied calmly. "They burn in hell and they are crying for their son."

Jun's eyes grew wide as saucers. He felt his face grow hot and his muscles tensed and quivered. "Who are you?" he said once more, and this time his voice was low and angry.

"Tell us who you are first, brother," Seiji said and smirked coyly. "What good is a warrior who hides his identity?"

Jun looked between Ryo, Toma, and Shu, all three of whom were now looking at him expectantly. He averted his gaze immediately and stared hard at Seiji. "You're a real sick bastard, whoever you are," he said and stepped forward once more, this time drawing his sword.

The armor leaped forward then, as if it knew the danger that Jun posed to its master and landed comfortably between Jun and his companions. It held the nodachi defensively before it, inviting an attack.

"Does it hurt you, brother?" Seiji continued. "Knowing that I know who you are? Knowing how your beloved family suffers? Does it pain you that I am powerful enough to break into the steel mind of your companion? You should know, he did not resist my entry into his thoughts," Seiji paused and smirked once more, evilly. "What if I was to tell your companions that you were—"

Seiji was interrupted by the long loud ring of steel on steel, and he laughed wildly. Blinded by anger and fear Jun had charged, his initial swing parried easily by the disembodied armor. Jun jumped away to the right and charged in once more with such reckless ferocity that the armor dodged aside, leaving the boy to rush ineffectively past.

When Jun stopped he looked angrily to Ryo, Toma, and Shu. "Wake him up," he yelled. "Now."

The three stared at the furious boy for a long moment before they rushed, one by one, to Seiji's side. Ryo lingered the longest, staring confusedly at the mysterious fighter as he squared to the armor. Then he turned, realizing that he had no place in this fight, and ran to his companions.

Toma shook Seiji violently and called his name many times, but Seiji would not respond. And suddenly the three warriors were thrown back as a bright green sphere materialized around the possessed man, rendering him utterly unreachable. When the three recovered from their initial shock they sat back, defeated, and watched their young companion at work.

Jun was immediately on the defensive as the fight began: it was all he could do to parry and dodge the swift strikes of the halo armor. They came in a wild flurry, horizontal, diagonal, vertical swings with deadly accuracy and incredible speed for a blade of such size. Jun was initially terrified and threw his sword about randomly, sloppily, and rarely tried for a counter attack.

It did not take long for Jun to realize that the armor was using a rudimentary pattern, several simple attacks strung together to look as if they were some elaborate routine. The whole world slowed then, and Jun watched closely between newly measured parries and feints. It was a kendo tournament all over again, except this time the blades were real and his opponent was the indomitable Date Seiji.

The armor came fast with a diagonal slash and Jun threw his blade high with his right hand. The metal rang and sparked and Jun's arm was thrown violently down and left. He used the huge momentum to his advantage, spinning about deftly while the armor reeled from the unexpected parry. Jun planted his right foot firm on the ground, halting the turn with his blade raised high above his head, and brought it down in what should have been a devastating blow.

The armor swung up, stopping Jun's blade in its path and forcibly reversing its direction. Jun was sent staggering to the right. He dove into a shoulder roll to halt the graceless stumbling and came to rest kneeling on the ground, faced with an immediate downward slice as the armor followed through with its parry.

Jun raised his sword, caught the nodachi at its hilt, and the two blades locked in a brief grapple. Realizing his disadvantage immediately, Jun launched a hard kick and connected squarely with the armor's thick chest plate. The armor staggered back and Jun rushed forward with a true offensive advantage.

The armor waved its sword in a quick arc across its body, an attempt to halt the momentum of the now bolstered boy. But Jun passed his own blade to his left hand and threw the nodachi out wide, then launched a right hook straight into the armor's faceplate.

The armor stumbled back once more, utterly stunned, and stood motionless for a long moment.

"You're weak!" Jun spat and looked to Seiji's still form, still obscured by the sphere. "You fight with Seiji's mind but not with the grace in his heart." He looked back to the armor and pointed the tip of his blade at the crest of its helmet. "Armor without virtue is worthless."

Beneath the cover of the sphere Seiji's face was twisted with indignation and he offered no reply to the cocky taunt. Instead the armor rushed in, blind with Seiji's rage, its nodachi poised for a horizontal strike. Jun threw his sword out for the parry but did not connect. The armor feinted to the left as it swung its long blade and connected with Jun's back on the follow through.

Jun stumbled forward for a moment before launching into another roll. He stood and squared himself to the halo armor, then launched into a furious charge. He sliced down, was parried low, then reversed the blade for a high strike but the armor caught him in a second grapple.

It was the halo's turn for an unexpected move. It kicked out, just as Jun had before, and connected hard with the boy's injured side. Jun was sent sprawling back, reeling and nauseous. He lay on his back for what felt like forever, feeling the flow of warm blood around his waist.

The armor charged recklessly with its nodachi raised high above its head. Jun saw the rush and, as the nodachi began its swift descent, thrust his legs up straight with all the strength he could muster. He felt resistance as his feet connected with the armor's chest, and then heard the armor stumble. Using the momentum of the kick Jun rolled backward into a squat and, in the same fluid motion, launched into a reckless charge at the dazed armor, thrusting his broadsword between the plates on its torso.

The disembodied armor hung listlessly on the sword for a moment before Jun kicked it away, raising his sword and swinging it in a wide horizontal arc. The flat of the blade connected violently with a loud metallic crack, and the helmet flew from the armored body and crashed against the wall. Headless, the armored body fell in a heap to the floor. Jun dropped to his knees, exhausted.

The sphere around Seiji disappeared immediately and Ryo, Toma, and Shu rushed to his side. At once the two tall torches went out and the smoke from the extinguished flames collected and hung like a thick fog in the air above the still motionless warrior. A low but unmistakably feminine voice issued forth from the void.

"This is stupid!" it whined. "Use your stupid armors, I don't need them! You can have your damned friend back, too, his mind was boring anyway."

The warriors looked to the smoke, confused by the sudden childish emotion.

"You weren't supposed to be so skilled, brother," it said and then spat in afterthought, "Fortitude, indeed," and it dissipated into nothing.

As soon as the smoke was gone Seiji's eyes blinked open and he stared wide eyed and horrified at Jun, who returned the expression in full. The boy realized at once the recognizance in Seiji's face and he became suddenly afraid. His whole façade was about to come crashing down. But then, by luck or fate, Seiji fell limp into Shu's arms.

Jun felt suddenly light then, nauseous and panting as he was on his hands and knees, and he heard a light clink, as of two wine glasses toasting together. When he looked before him he saw, resting between his now naked hands, a small white orb and he knew at once what had happened. His under gear and his armor had coalesced into a tiny lightweight kanji orb. With it, he understood, he could summon his arms as he wished.

But Jun's mirth was short lived. With his under gear gone he was almost wholly unprotected and he felt keenly the heavy flow of hot blood from the gash on his side. His whole body trembled and he felt lightheaded when he thought of it. He closed his eyes, grabbed the kanji orb, and shoved it into the pocket of his sweater. Then he remained still.

After a while Jun opened his eyes and looked toward his companions who were still troubling with Seiji in the corner, and his vision swam. He could tell that they had him propped against Byakuen's side and crowded tight around him, snapping fingers and calling his name and running through all the ways to wake someone up that they could think of. Byakuen licked its paw absently.

When he looked back down he was confused. There was a streak of darkness staining the stone between his hands and he could not imagine what would have caused it. Then Jun heard a drip, and a small trickle of water rolled down the stone, between his hands, and toward the door through which they had entered.

"We need to get out of here," Jun said. His voice was quiet and his throat was dry. It did not take long for him to realize that his companions could not hear him. So he cleared his throat and staggered to his feet, his vision still swimming, and yelled. "We have to get out of here!"

Toma, Shu, and Ryo looked at the boy confusedly. "Why?" Shu said. "We're safe enough here, rest won't hurt."

As Shu spoke the trickle of water became more constant and the dripping noise gradually shifted and grew to sound as a flow of water. When Jun looked back to his feet they were soaking wet. He stood in the middle of a heavy stream that flowed across the room, from the exit to the entrance, and it grew in size and volume with every passing moment.

"We have to leave, now," Jun said emphatically. "Byakuen, come!"

Byakuen jumped to its feet and bounded to Jun, leaving Seiji to drop unceremoniously to the floor. This drew the undivided attention of the other three warriors who composed themselves quickly as soon as they saw the great flow of water. Shu collected Seiji and the warriors moved quickly toward the exit, fighting ever against the flow of endlessly rushing water.


	8. Chapter 8

My oh my, this one is long. I'm going to have to work on keeping myself in check here.^_^()

Chapter 7:

The going was slow as the warriors pushed their way through the rushing water. They were in a long straight hallway with narrow walls and an uncomfortably low ceiling, and the water flowed violently through it, spewing forth from a single point in the right wall a hundred yards away. The source erupted with such huge pressure that it cast a thick mist all about and issued a loud hiss.

The water was dark, when it could be seen through the white foaming caps, but relatively clear and extremely salty.

"What's going on?" Ryo cried from his seat on Byakuen's back. He held tightly to Seiji, still unconscious and resting on the tiger in front of him, and peered back at Jun. The boy was clearly struggling to keep up. "Hey, kid," he called again. "What is going on here?"

Jun did not look up. "I don't know," he called in reply and sincerely hoped that that was the end of Ryo's inquiry. Jun was having enough difficulty keeping his feet underneath him to trouble with unnecessary questions, and his going was made tougher by the wound on his side. The fight with the halo armor had reopened the gash and judging by how freely it bled it had very likely ripped open farther.

"We have to get past that geyser," Shu called from the front of the group. He stopped and planted his feet firmly, then turned to face his companions. "It doesn't look half as bad past the source."

"Keep going then," Ryo shouted. "Let's get out of here."

So the warriors continued on, trudging into the raging flood, but they stopped far short of their mark when the room began to shake. The water crashed against the walls like a river onto rock and the warriors were helpless against such a massive surge. Ryo and Seiji were thrown from Byakuen's back and the tiger disappeared amongst the waves. Toma was smashed by a particularly large swell and smacked into the left wall.

Jun watched it all in horror. "The way ahead is closing!" He said and looked behind. "And so is the way back, get moving!"

The path was indeed closing around them. A large stone slab had fallen down behind them and blocked any retreat, and ahead of them a second slab slid slowly out from the right wall, perhaps fifty yards ahead and well past the source of the raging water.

Realizing the danger, Shu scooped Seiji into his arms and pulled Ryo to his feet, and they sprinted forward with all the speed that they could manage. Toma shook the daze from his impact, jumped quickly onto Byakuen's back, and urged the tiger forth.

Jun ran as fast as he could but the distance between him and his friends grew every second. He looked up to watch them all pass safely through the spewing geyser and realized that they were all close enough to the exit to make it through with plenty of time. No one looked back to help him and Jun could not honestly blame them. They were in serious danger and were right to be more concerned with themselves than with a strange boy who had yet to tell them his name.

When Jun reached the water source he hesitated. When the others passed through Shu had nearly been taken off his feet by the pressure and neither Ryo nor Toma had fared much better. Jun was far smaller in stature than them and he was wounded besides. Now he was running on a blind path flooded with saltwater. Every splash already racked him with nauseating pain and he was truly terrified by the prospect of intentionally drenching himself.

"This is going to hurt," he said, took a long deep breath, and ran.

The first thing he felt as the water battered his right side was a bone chilling cold, then he felt heavy as the water soaked his clothes. It wasn't until he emerged from the water, coughing and sputtering, that he felt any pain at all. It started as numbness then shifted into a slight burning sting that grew more intense with each step he took.

He stopped then, suddenly, as agonizing pain coursed through his body. He could not bring himself to move any more. He watched with blurred vision as Byakuen stopped mere steps from safety and turned around. Then he swooned and fell weak against the wall.

"What are you doing?" Toma shouted at Byakuen. But when he looked ahead and saw Jun slump he understood Byakuen's intent, and before he could dismount and run to safety the tiger was off, bounding the wrong way down the fast flooding hall.

Shu and Ryo yelled and waved as the door shut before them and Toma looked back helplessly from his mount with just enough time to watch his friends disappear behind the thick stone. "Bad cat, Byakuen," he said, and the tiger kept running.

Finally the tiger halted, standing beside Jun as he bent double against the wall woozily, his hands pressed tight against his side. Toma dismounted and yelled, launching into an uncharacteristically angry tirade against the wounded boy. He stopped when he realized that Jun was utterly unresponsive.

"What's wrong?" Toma said, regaining his cool composure immediately. "Why did you stop? You know that we're trapped now, don't you?'

Jun groaned in reply and raised his hand weakly, presenting Toma with his bloody palm as if it should explain everything. Then he looked up.

Toma was now in full blown panic, pacing back and forth quickly with his hand pressed in frustration against his forehead. The water level rose rapidly now that the way was sealed and though the walls no longer shook the waves continued to smash around violently.

"Think," Toma said quietly to himself. "Think, Toma, think." Then he turned to Jun and took the boy by the shoulders roughly. "You need to fend for yourself as much as you can. Pull yourself together and stick by Byakuen for now. Worry about pain later, when death is slightly less inevitable."

Jun looked at him, startled by the cold response, but said nothing as Toma ushered him to Byakuen. The tiger roared loudly, stood tall and strong against the powerful current, and Jun mounted the great cat with some difficulty. Then he held on as tightly as he could while Toma resumed his frantic pacing.

"Call yourself to arms," Jun said at length and Toma looked at him incredulously. "Just try," Jun continued. "It's not like it's going to hurt."

Toma certainly agreed with the last statement. The water lapped at his chest now and continued to rise. If he did not act soon the whole room would fill and that would be truly disastrous. Still, he did not like that the boy continued issuing orders despite his worthless position.

Toma called his arms and, to his surprise, the armor fell comfortably into place. He felt safe then, protected by the mystical armor, and his morale was bolstered significantly. He drew the bow from its place on his back and fired an arrow into the stone slab that blocked the exit. The arrow bounced harmlessly away.

"The wall," Jun cried. "Fire into the wall; it's weak where the water is leaking."

Toma looked at the wall and realized the truth of Jun's recommendation. Upon closer inspection the water was indeed flowing through a series of deep cracks in the stone and judging by the pressure there must have been an enormous space beyond for such a huge volume of water to build. "Hang on," Toma said and raised his bow. "And hold your breath."

Jun gripped Byakuen's shoulders tightly and buried his head into the tiger's flank. He heard Toma call forth his sure-kill, felt heat from the light of the arrow, and then heard a rocky explosion as the attack landed, bursting through the wall allowing all the water beyond to flow freely into the tiny space.

The initial burst was intense and disorienting. Jun felt Byakuen shift against the force of rushing water, then felt significant weight fall over him. He knew at once that Toma was there and was holding tight to both Byakuen and Jun to ride out the violent flow together.

Eventually the space filled and the flow of water slowed. Pain shot through Jun's side and he struggled to hold his breath, dug his fingers deep into Byakuen's side, and squeezed his eyes closed. Then Byakuen was moving, swimming powerfully into the cavern that Toma's arrow had opened, and Jun felt the calm rush of water over his body. Then he felt nothing at all.

When Jun woke again he felt immediately warm. He lay on the ground, on dry ground, and Byakuen lay curled around him purring quietly. He heard the gentle flow of water and the steady tapping of Toma's armored boots on the stone. He was pacing again.

Jun pushed himself up slowly and watched Toma walk. He had dismissed his armor and was left only in his under gear, and now both hands were pressed against his forehead. His expression read less of panic and more of frustration and he grumbled quietly to himself.

The room that they were in now was square, relatively small, and a large circular fountain occupied a quarter of the space. It was nested into the corner across from where Jun presently sat and flowed gently with clean, clear water. A waterfall fed into the single tiered, shallow pool from a square hole in the ceiling, and a constant slow stream overflowed from the fountain's boundaries, gathering in the adjacent corner where a large portion of the floor was completely absent. Jun figured that this was where they had entered.

It did not take long for Toma to notice that Jun was awake and he sat down on the lip of the fountain, looking absolutely distraught. He rested his forearms comfortably on his knees and sighed heavily. "We need words," Toma said, and Jun understood from his unwavering tone that there was no escaping the inevitable interrogation. "You need me," Toma continued.

"Oh?" said Jun as defiantly as he could. "It seems that we're relying on each other here."

Toma shook his head. "Not with that wound on your gut," he said. "I can get out of here just fine by myself and so can Byakuen. Your mobility is seriously limited and despite your tough guy act you're obviously in some severe pain. The minute you hit the water again you're going to need one of us to pull you along." Toma paused and watched a hint of confusion flash across the boy's face. "You passed out hard back there. I wouldn't be surprised if you did again."

"How long was I out?" Jun asked.

"Not long. A few minutes, maybe," Toma said. "But that's not the point."

"What happened to your armor?" Jun continued in a deliberate attempt to distract Toma from his intended line of questions.

"It was weak. I had to dismiss it after I opened the wall. It's not going to do us a whole lot of good, not here anyway," Toma said, then steeled his gaze on Jun once more. "Now we need to talk," he said at length. "I'm not going to help you out of here for nothing."

Jun sighed and reclined into Byakuen's side. "What do you want me to do in exchange for your help?"

"You need to answer a few questions," Toma said and his voice was stern. "And I don't want any lies from you."

"Don't ask me unnecessary questions," Jun said flatly," and I won't give you lies."

"What do you know about us?" Toma asked immediately. "You knew Shu's armor, you knew both Ryo and Seiji's virtues. What else do you know?"

"Everything," Jun replied evenly, unfazed by Toma's accusatory tone.

"How?"

"The Toyama incident was documented well enough," Jun said and the lie came easily. "Anyone with motivation to dig through the archives can find accounts of your armors. Plus there was the armor's activity in New York, of course you recall that. That particular episode was recorded and photographed extensively."

"How do you know us personally?"

"Like I said, anyone with motivation can find out everything that I know about you."

Toma sat quiet for a long moment, understanding that his present line of questioning was not going to provide any answers from the clever boy. He knew that anything he asked about the boy's extensive knowledge would be met with the same vague response, and he didn't like it. "You won't tell us who you are, why not?"

Jun shrugged and winced from the casual movement. His side still throbbed terribly. "I'm under strict orders to conceal myself."

"Strict orders from whom? And why?"

"From Kaosu," Jun said with finality. "And once I'm done here she told me that I would be released from her service, and you'll never have to see me again."

Toma looked hard at Jun, surprised by the mention of Kayura. He sat quiet for a long moment and folded his hands contemplatively. "Are you evil?"

Jun laughed, and Toma was startled by the sudden emotional response. The laugh was the first honest reaction that he'd seen from the otherwise dispassionate boy. "Evil?" Jun repeated, then calmed himself and spoke thoughtfully and with some degree of introspection. "No, I'm not evil," he said and paused for a moment. "But I'm not what you'd call good either. If you have to slap a label on me, call me morally ambivalent."

"How do I know that I can trust you then?"

Jun looked at Toma with a soft and honest expression, and Toma raised his eyebrows in confusion. "What reason have I given you to distrust me?" he asked, and Toma looked suddenly ashamed. Then Toma stood, approached Jun, and extended his hand down.

"We have work to do," Toma said quietly and pulled Jun up gently as soon as the boy took his hand. Jun lurched forward, dizzy, and Toma held tight to his shoulders. "You look like hell," he said.

"I feel like hell," Jun replied. As soon as he regained his balance he pushed away from Toma roughly, ending the uncomfortable friendly interaction, and walked to the fountain. He knelt down before it and peered into the water, staring with concern at his reflection. His face was pale, gaunt, and thick black circles hung around his eyes. His appearance was jarring and at once Jun realized that he was in far deeper trouble, at least physically, than he initially believed. Then he lifted his sweater, peered at the gash, and swooned at the sight.

"You can't figure out what's wrong with you," Toma said. "Can you?"

Jun shook his head and touched the wound tenderly. His whole torso was bruised and sick looking, the cut had indeed ripped open, perhaps half an inch on either side, and stretched around his body from his right bottom rib halfway to his navel. It bled freely still, a combination of blood and a thick clear fluid, and only then did Jun begin to understand the extent of his peril.

"But you diagnosed Ryo's concussion easily enough," Toma said.

"I was in denial," Jun spat, suddenly angry. As he stared at himself he felt a hot rage welling up. He had known all along that something was desperately wrong and yet he had ignored it, foolishly, had suppressed the fear and pain and chalked it all up to too much adrenaline. But now he knew it was much more serious than that, he looked like he was dying and felt like he was dying, and the pain coursing through his body was no comfort.

"How could I have been so stupid," he said quietly, staring at the gaping wound. He watched the blood flow, watched the clear liquid ooze down his side, and then the realization hit him like a truck. "I've been poisoned," he said.

"What?" Toma said. "What did you just say?"

"God damn it!" Jun yelled suddenly, and Toma stepped back as the boy erupted in a blind fury. He launched his fist into the wall where it connected with a loud snap. Jun recoiled immediately and shook his hand, staring at the sizeable crack he put in the stone with astonishment. Then he sat, defeated, on the lip of the fountain and looked at the floor. "I'm so screwed."

"And you probably just broke your hand," Toma added and knelt in front of the boy.

Jun shook his head, ashamed, and raised his right hand. It throbbed, though he could move all of the fingers easily enough. He grasped each finger with his left hand and pushed them back toward his palm and winced slightly when he pushed against his ring and pinky fingers. "Fracture," he said flatly and ran his left fingers along each of the bones in his right. "Probably, but I don't think it's serious."

Toma blew a heavy sigh and looked to the hole in the ceiling from which the water flowed. "You said you were poisoned?"

Jun shook his head. "That was a stupid word," he said. "Envenomated would be more accurate. By the dragon I fought to release Ryo. It's the only thing that explains what's been going on with any degree of consistency. The dizziness, the nausea, the sweating, all the symptoms are there, I just never put it together."

"But you don't know for sure, you said you weren't a doctor. If you consider the size of the wound, everything you said could be explained by it and environmental factors," Toma reasoned.

Jun shook his head. "I'm not a doctor," he repeated. "But I've been studying medicine since I left high school. I can make simple diagnoses and fix minor issues, set bones, sew things up, things of that nature, but I'm not licensed to practice."

"Oh," Toma replied, dejected. "Then you do know for certain."

Jun shrugged and looked at Toma. "We've got to get out of here before this gets any worse."

Toma nodded and pointed at the hole in the ceiling. "That's our exit. It's too high to boost. I'm sure Byakuen could make the jump but I doubt he could do it with one of us on his back."

Jun looked up and nodded his understanding. The hole was some dozen feet from the floor and was nested all the way in the corner. "It's going to hurt, but I can make the jump pretty easily," he said. "Is there anything to grab on to up there?"

Toma shrugged. "From the looks of it, there's a ledge on the left side going back into the wall. It seems more like a ventilation shaft than anything."

Jun stood and placed his foot on the lip of the fountain, pressed down, and looked between the left and right wall. Then he backed away, taking four long backward strides, and motioned Toma away from his path. When Toma was out of the way Jun took two deep breaths and clenched his fists, completely uncertain how his body would react to sudden intense motion. "You catch me if I fall," he said to Toma and then he sprinted forward.

He took three bounding steps and planted his right foot firmly on the lip of the fountain. Then he leapt toward the left wall, intercepting it at a forty five degree angle. He planted his left foot on that wall and pushed off toward the right, planted his right foot, and sprang back, grasping the edge of the hole where he hung still for a moment. The salty water rushed over him, and he felt almost immediately nauseous. Finally he pulled himself up and into the shaft.

"That was awesome," Toma said, genuinely impressed. "Are you okay up there?"

In the shaft Jun sat against the wall, out of breath and reeling. It was a tiny space no more than three feet high and Jun slumped over against his knees. "I'm all right," he said at last, and peered down the hole that he had just come through. The flow of water out of the hole was deceptively heavy when viewed from below. In reality the stream was light and meandered gently through the shaft not more than an inch or two deep. Jun could not discern the source of the water.

"The jump wasn't difficult," Jun called. "Did you see what I did?"

Toma nodded, though Jun could not see, recreated the difficult maneuver easily, and before long the two men and the tiger were safely in the shaft. It was long and dark and claustrophobic. Byakuen led them down the tiny way and Jun and Toma crawled slowly behind, both because they were completely uncertain of their surroundings and because now that Jun knew the truth of his condition he made every move slow and deliberate. The warriors could not see anything of the way ahead.

Jun stopped suddenly and Toma shuffled up behind him. Byakuen continued down the path.

"Are you okay?" Toma said. "We've been at this for a while now, do you need to rest?"

Jun shook his head and took a deep breath. They had indeed been crawling for a long time and Jun was truly growing tired. He tried to figure how long he'd been away from the shrine but he could never be certain how long they had walked at any point in the adventure, could never be sure how long a particular fight took. All he could be certain of was that he was hungry and exhausted and in pain, and he wanted the whole episode to be over.

"I'm all right," Jun said at last and began crawling once more. "I just needed a minute."

Toma followed behind closely, curiously. "Where do you come from?"

"Toyama," Jun replied honestly. He did not resent the question in this space and figured that some casual conversation might keep him alert.

"What do you do?" Toma continued, surprised by Jun's willingness to answer such personal questions.

"What do you mean, what do I do?" Jun replied.

"Professionally, are you a student? You said you were studying medicine, I figured you would be a student somewhere."

Jun shook his head. "No, I don't attend a college. I can't afford it."

"It is expensive," Toma said. "It's a shame to see such diagnostic talent go unused."

Jun chuckled at the compliment. "Flattery will get you nowhere, Toma."

It was Toma's turn to stop suddenly, taken back by the statement. It was obvious that Jun had taken his words as an attempt to flatter him into divulging personal information. Of course that was not Toma's intent, but the warrior was impressed all the same. He wondered what had happened to make the boy so suspicious and distrusting. Nothing could be genuine with him. Toma resumed his crawling and pushed forward with his questions. "You said your parents died, what happened to them?"

Jun stopped and turned around, then sat in the middle of the tunnel. His expression was a mix of outrage and bafflement and he stared at Toma coldly. "What the hell is your problem?" He said. "What are you trying to get at with a question like that?"

Toma sat as well. "I'm just trying to understand you," he said and measured his words carefully. "I don't think I've ever encountered someone with such an interesting demeanor."

"What goes on in my head is none of your damned business. Stop trying to pry into matters that don't concern you, you're not getting my name. You're not getting my personal history. You know where I'm from and you know who sent me and that's plenty, as far as I'm concerned. I know you're super intelligent but you ask a lot of dumb ass questions. Save them for Kayura."

Toma was appalled by the tirade and felt almost hurt by the insults. "I see we're not going to be close friends."

Jun turned around and resumed crawling. "Not a chance in hell."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 8:

Shu sat on the ground with his back against the stone slab that had separated him, Seiji, and Ryo from their companions. He watched curiously as Ryo walked anxiously around the perimeter of the small square room they were now stuck in, his eyes locked on the ground. Ryo's expression shifted often from confusion to anger to complete blankness, and Shu wondered very much if the wildfire was still suffering from the effects of his concussion.

"What's your deal?" Shu said at last as Ryo began pacing through the center of the room. "Look, I know that Toma and that kid and Byakuen are lost but I don't think we've got anything to worry about. They'll find us as long as we stay put."

"That's not the point," Ryo said.

"Then what's going on? Maybe you should sit down for a minute."

Ryo shook his head and stopped walking, then shot Shu a dangerous look. "It's the kid," he said.

"What about him?" Shu said and Ryo began to pace once more. "He seems like a decent enough guy, a good fighter anyway."

"I don't like him," Ryo said flatly. "I don't care how good he is with swords, there is something _off_ about him." Ryo paused and thought for a while. "I really don't like that he's alone with Toma."

"They've got Byakuen," Shu said and was genuinely perplexed by Ryo's negative attitude.

"He seems too comfortable. It's like he's not even human. I mean, no one can put himself in harm's way for a total stranger with such a cavalier attitude. No one can face death so frequently and not be even remotely emotional about it. We aren't even that cold and we've been at this sort of thing for years."

Shu shrugged. "Maybe he's broken."

Ryo stopped walking again and regarded Shu curiously. "What do you mean?"

"Maybe he acts like he doesn't care because he doesn't care," Shu said. "You don't have to overcomplicate it so much. You see that kind of thing on the news all the time, people doing crazy reckless things without a second thought just for fun."

Ryo sat down in front of Shu and rested his chin on his hand. "You seem awfully well reasoned today."

Shu grinned and threw his hands up in defeat. "I just don't understand why he's getting to you so much. I'm not worried about what he's thinking, I'm worried about why you care so much."

Ryo seemed genuinely thoughtful then. "I don't know," he said. "He just came in here and started bossing us around like we're a bunch of inexperienced kids. I mean, the kid can't be more than twenty and yet he acts like he's got all of the skill and knowledge in the world."

"Maybe he does."

"I don't like that he knows everything about is and yet he won't give us his name, he won't even show us his face. Add in that he's wearing under gear identical to ours under his street clothes and the whole thing gets even fishier."

"You think he's evil?" Shu asked. "I don't think he'd be helping us if he wasn't on our side."

Ryo shook his head. "I just don't think his intentions are pure."

Shu shrugged again. "I don't read people like that," he said. "I just go by what I see, simple as that. If you want psychoanalysis you'd have to talk to him." He pointed his thumb at Seiji. "And he's too unconscious to answer right now."

Ryo sighed. "I just don't like reckless people, and that kid is about as reckless as it gets."

Ж

Jun did not remember falling asleep and only vaguely recalled his decision to ride on Byakuen's back. He had made the decision shortly after the drainage shaft, for that is what Toma had ultimately decided it was, turned sharply to the left and opened into a wide and comfortable hallway. Jun had had to stop three times while he and Toma crawled along and he was certain, at the time, that a long walk would prove no less troublesome. So he had mounted Byakuen and laid his head between the tiger's powerful shoulders, and the soft sound of flowing water must have lulled him to sleep.

Toma walked out in front now and kept his eyes up, watching vigilantly for some way out of this place, for some way to reconnect with Shu, Ryo, and Seiji. But the way was solid and the brilliant blue brick of the hall offered no immediate hope of escape.

Jun pushed himself upright and patted Byakuen admirably and the tiger purred. He looked again to Toma and, satisfied that the strata was otherwise engaged, checked his wound as discreetly as he could. It was still open, still bleeding and oozing, and to Jun's surprise and dismay the evidence was smeared all over Byakuen's pristine white coat. It seemed that the fluid had soaked through Jun's thick sweater and had matted and stained the tiger's fur an ugly red where he had been resting.

Toma slowed his stride and fell into step behind the tiger. "How are you feeling?"

Jun replied, pointedly avoiding Toma's question. "How long was I asleep?"

"Maybe twenty minutes, it's hard to be sure in here."

Jun sighed heavily and wondered how far he could push his wounded body on such little rest. The weakness and dizziness persisted even through sleep and, since waking, Jun felt as if his mind was dulling. He could not remember simple decisions, the decision to lay down key among them, and was now having difficulty focusing his thoughts on anything but sleep and pain.

Toma did not say anything for a long time and whenever Jun looked at him Toma looked away. Jun wondered if Toma was ashamed of his probing into the death of Jun's parents or if perhaps Jun had hurt his feelings with his angry retort. But then Toma perked up suddenly, stopped walking, and pointed down the hallway.

"It looks like the path turns left again," he said. "Maybe that's the way out."

Jun shrugged noncommittally, though Toma did not look, and Toma led the way down the hall at a faster pace than he'd been walking before. It became obvious to Jun then that his companion was nervous in such a tight space. The warrior of strata was accustomed to expansive places, to wide open sky and fresh air, and being enclosed for so long was having a detrimental effect on his usually level head.

The path did turn to the left as Toma had claimed and the path widened slightly. This particular stretch of hallway was not long, Jun could see another left turn ahead, but the blue stone bricks were missing from the right wall and in their place was a solid pane of glass that stretched the length of the path. At the end of the corridor was the source of the endless water, a gentle fall that hugged against the brick and flowed from a narrow crack in the ceiling.

Toma led his companions through the passage and stopped to peer through the window. They stood above a room so enormous that they could not see the walls or the ceiling. The room was filled with water so deep that it disappeared into blackness long before the warriors could see the floor.

"I bet that's where we're going," Toma said. He ran a hand through his hair nervously. "I don't like the looks of it, that room is big enough for anything, and that water looks immensely deep."

Jun shrugged, dismounted, and joined Toma in staring downward. "I don't see any signs of Shin anywhere," he said. "But I don't doubt that he's in there somewhere."

Toma looked to Jun then. "Do you know anything about this?"

Jun shook his head and looked angry. "I don't understand why you insist on accusing me so much. I don't know any more than you do about this place. Trust me, if I had known anything I would never have allowed myself to be put in such an insufferable situation," he said, pushed away from the glass, and walked away from Toma. "Byakuen, come," he said.

Toma turned and watched as the tiger followed obediently. He said nothing when he noticed the blood staining Byakuen's flank and instead followed purposefully, watching the boy in front of him walk with labored steps and waiting for him to faint again.

"It's a dead end," Jun said as he rounded the corner, and then he stopped, looking utterly confused.

"What's the matter?" Toma said.

Jun held up a hand and turned his head a hair to the right.

"What's going on?" Toma repeated.

"Shut up, Toma," Jun said angrily and strode to the end of the hall. He pressed his ear against the stone and listened for a long moment. "Ryo and Shu are on the other side of this wall somewhere," he said at last and Toma rushed to his side.

When Toma pressed his ear to the wall he could indeed hear the quiet conversation between Ryo and Shu, and he smiled genuinely. Then he pounded his fists against the wall. "Ryo! Shu!" He called. "Get us out of here!"

Jun, his ear pressed still against the wall, motioned for Toma to stop his efforts and furrowed his brow. "I think they heard you," he said quietly. "They stopped talking."

Toma pounded against the stone once more and Byakuen roared behind him. The noise was enough to draw Ryo and Shu near, and Toma heard their confused calls. He pounded again and once satisfied that his companions were close by he called, "Shu, put on your armor and knock out this wall."

The two rushed away from the wall when they heard Shu summon his arms and watched expectantly as he called forth his sure kill. In a shower of rock and dust the stone wall crumbled, opening the way for Toma, Jun, and Byakuen to rejoin their companions.

The warriors were genuinely happy with the unexpected reunion and Ryo and Shu clapped Toma more than once on the shoulder. Toma responded in kind, though he found it difficult to hide his unease from his friends. He leaned close to Ryo nodded toward Jun.

"The kid is in bad shape," Toma said. "He bled all over Byakuen."

"What happened?" Ryo replied. He looked to Byakuen to verify Toma's description and then stared at Jun. "How long has it been that bad?"

Toma shrugged defensively. "I don't know," he replied in the same hushed tone. "He rode on Byakuen's back for maybe half an hour, slept for most of it. I worried he might not wake up."

Ryo sighed heavily and looked between Shu and Toma. All of them stood grim faced and concerned. "We've got to get Shin and get out of here. Even if that kid isn't on our side I don't want to be responsible for someone bleeding out like that," Ryo said and shot another worried glance at Jun.

Jun turned around and crossed his hands defensively over his chest. "Toma and I were able to see a bit of Shin's prison," he said flatly and leaned against the wall. "Judging by the enormity of his room I'd say his guardian will either be physically huge or we'll be overwhelmed by numbers."

Shu, Toma, and Ryo exchanged glances. It was obvious to all of them that the boy was slipping. It was clear to them all that his decision to lean against the wall was motivated by physical weakness and, despite what Jun may have believed, his words were slow and quiet. Ryo pointed across the room to a dull stone door. "That's the way out," he said. "Shu and I figured it would be best to sit and wait for you to find us."

Jun pushed himself away from the wall and walked toward the door with as natural of a stride as he could produce. Shu collected Seiji and he, Ryo, Toma, and Byakuen followed. The warriors passed through a small stone hallway which opened out onto a wide platform in the middle of the same expansive room that Toma and Jun had looked down upon earlier.

"More ominous from down here than it was up there," Jun grumbled and looked to his companions.

Toma spoke then, loud and confident. "We can call our armors, though," he said. "But they're still pretty weak. At any rate we shouldn't have any issues with that kind of power."

"Providing that Shin's guardian is of the same nature as the rest of them," Ryo said.

"I assume that it will be summoned when someone steps on that platform," Jun said and pointed to the middle of the room where there floated a second platform, a square slab that seemed to float on the calm surface. There were several more of these dry areas throughout the massive room though they were not in any particular pattern and seemed to sit randomly about.

Ryo nodded and looked between Toma and Shu. When Shu had laid Seiji safely against the wall the three of them called themselves to arms and stood at the ready. Ryo shot Jun a look and smirked. "You're swimming first, right?" he said.

Jun shook his head. "No. I'll work from here."

Ryo shrugged and dove into the dark water. He swam beneath the surface and looked down, and any bluster that he had was gone immediately. He felt suddenly nervous and very small, a tiny speck in a great ocean. He understood that the kid was right, that some giant bloodthirsty monster was likely lurking in the murk below him, waiting for its moment to strike. He surfaced quickly and swam to the central platform, then motioned for Toma and Shu to follow. Rather than swimming, however, the two warriors drew on the power of their armors and leapt over the wide expanse, landing comfortably beside Ryo.

Jun watched from the doorway as the three men drew out their weapons and the room began to shake. The warriors remained still, expecting the sudden tremors and confident now that they were fighting comfortably protected by their armors, and none of them so much as flinched when the first of six monstrous black tentacles shot up from the depths.

Toma leaned over the side of the platform and launched a barrage of endless golden arrows into the water. He could see an enormous gaping maw deep below the surface, obscured in the darkness of the water, and he hoped genuinely that his shots were hitting the mark.

In the meantime Shu and Ryo pounded and cut at the giant arms that swatted at them recklessly. Ryo landed one solid hit, sending ten feet of severed flesh sinking back into the water.

On and on the battle went and Jun drew his sword, thinking to help his companions, but he could only stand and stare, awed by the expert precision and coordination with which his friends fought. Such cooperation was the product of years of teamwork and the choreography seemed so natural and fluid that Jun worried if he joined he would disrupt the three fighters and ruin any advantage they had.

He watched silently as Shu summoned his sure-kill and crushed two tentacles in one devastating blow. The beast erupted in fury then, swinging its remaining limbs wildly around. Shu and Ryo jumped and dodged the sweeping strikes and Toma dove underneath the fray, landing safely in the water.

Then Jun heard his sword clatter against the floor though he could not recall dropping it, and when he looked at his hands they trembled. His whole body shook so violently that his vision blurred. Then he looked up, surprised and terrified to see one of the thick limbs flying fast toward him. He could not move and did not know if it was from sheer terror or blood loss, but his body was utterly unresponsive. So Jun did the only thing he could think to do and prepared for the inescapable impact.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 9:

Ryo heard Jun's desperate cry and watched in horror as the great tentacle connected, knocking him unconscious on impact, and sent him flying with deadly force into the wall. Jun's back hit the stone with a sickening crack and he crumpled to the floor and lay very, very still.

Terrified, Ryo unleashed his sure-kill and eliminated two more of the dangerous limbs while Toma fired the heaven's shockwave twice into the deep. As the arrows cut through the water they illuminated the way and Toma watched satisfied as both shots landed, piercing the creature's bulbous, fleshy head. Blood issued forth from the gaping wounds left by the explosive shots and Ryo and Shu turned their attention downward.

The three warriors launched their ultimate moves at the head of the beast and as the final blow fell the last remaining limb, still thrashing aimlessly about, dropped lifeless into the water. The creature's bloody, mangled body drifted down into the dark.

Shu, Ryo, and Toma were still for a while after the monster fell and the room hung thick with silence. The three warriors dismissed their armors, satisfied that the immediate threat was gone, and searched for any signs of Shin. A short wait later the ronin of torrent surfaced, coughing and gasping as if he'd been drowning.

When Shin collected himself he peered up at his companions, shocked and confused, and pulled himself out of the water and onto the platform. "Where are we?" he said. "What happened?

Byakuen whined then, loud and long, and drew the four warriors' attention back toward the room's demolished entrance. The tiger stepped gingerly around Jun's lifeless body, pawing at his arms and nudging him gently with its head. It licked his face several times then turned, defeated, and stared sadly at Ryo. The tiger continued to cry.

"Oh no," Ryo said quietly. He took a step toward the edge of the platform, looked hard at the fallen boy, and was overwhelmed with cold dread. "Oh, no," he said once more and rushed to help, the other four following close behind.

Ryo waved Byakuen away, kneeled down beside Jun, and shook him gently. Ryo called for him to wake up, but Jun did not move.

Toma sat down beside Ryo and watched for a moment. "Don't shake him like that," he said, and then regarded the frantic expression smeared on Ryo's face. "He's not dead," Toma said, as much reassurance as he could offer.

Shin stepped forward then and looked between Jun, surrounded as he was by Ryo and Toma, and Seiji, who lay against the wall where he had been placed and was protected only by Byakuen. He was quite confused. "Can one of you please tell me what is going on here? What happened to Seiji, and who is he?" Shin pointed absently at Jun and looked to Shu for some response.

Shu opened his mouth to speak but was cut short by a thunderous crack. The walls shook and the sharp sounds of splitting stones echoed throughout the great space. The warriors turned to look and watched as mammoth chunks of the walls and ceiling fell and splashed into the water. It was as if the whole place was crumbling apart.

"We have to go," Toma said urgently and stood. He looked to Shu and placed his hands on the sturdy man's shoulders, looking quite grave. "You need to carry the kid as gently as you possibly can. We don't know the extent of his injury except that it's really bad." Then he turned to Ryo and pulled him to his feet. "Ryo, you take Seiji on Byakuen. I still don't trust your strength after your own injury and I know that Byakuen can keep both of you safe." When Ryo nodded Toma turned to Shin and shrugged. "We'll explain everything later. For now, we have to run."

The warriors did as they were instructed with as much calm and order as they could. Ryo collected Seiji and situated the two of them on atop Byakuen while Shu collected the fallen Jun. The room continued to shake as an endless earthquake and the disintegration grew more total every minute.

"Which way is out?" Shin said and looked at Toma.

Toma looked around the room, then back at the entrance. The small hallway that they had passed through had since collapsed entirely and was now completely impassible. So he turned his attention to the watery expanse and the platforms from which they fought. The main platform remained intact and a long line of similar stones ran the length of the room for as long as the eye could see. Toma pointed to the left and hoped genuinely that it was the correct decision.

"That way," he said and did not try to hide his uncertainty. He understood well that the others knew he had no idea where to go, and he was not about to offer any kind of false hope.

The warriors rushed off then, jumping deftly from platform to platform as the world crashed around them. As they moved the platforms grew shorter and shorter until they joined as wide tiles that led into a great gray hall at the room's distant end.

Toma felt a wave of relief as he led the group on, turning sharply to the left as this new corridor stretched on. The place still shook and stones cracked and crumbled with the motion. Dust flew and tiny stone chips buffeted the party as they ran. No one said a word.

Shin sprinted alongside Byakuen and kept a close watch on Ryo and Seiji. He did not know what Toma had meant when he said Ryo had been injured, but he felt that it was his duty to ensure both of his friends' safety in such a dangerous place.

Behind them all ran Shu, clutching tightly to Jun and contemplating exactly what it was that was happening around him. He ran with as gentle of steps as he could and, rather than draping Jun over his shoulder as he might otherwise have done, he cradled the boy in his arms as a father a child. He looked down frequently, as much to make certain that the boy remained as unmoved as possible as out of sheer curiosity.

Shu wondered how such a fragile looking person could have fought so fiercely, how someone so young could have such an iron will and a cold stare. He wondered how such a young person could best the korin armor in a sword fight, how he could anticipate Seiji's moves as if he had the foresight to know what was coming and when.

Shu remembered Ryo's sentiment of dislike and regretted it thoroughly. He thought more than once that such a personality could fit in well with the well-seasoned group and that perhaps it would do some good for the warriors to invite a fresh face in. Seiji and Toma had always argued in favor of many perspectives and Shu could not imagine why they would be opposed to another one now.

Jun stirred then and Shu felt him begin to tremble. He looked and watched the boy's face twist in agony. He thought to offer an apology for what must have been a rough ride but instead tightened his grip, pulled Jun in close, and slowed his pace slightly. "Don't worry about it, kid, we'll be out of here soon," he said at length and looked down.

Jun groaned quietly and pressed his sweat soaked forehead into the cold plate of Shu's under gear. He opened his eyes once, briefly, but relented to the blinding light and squinted them shut immediately. Shu felt a hard shudder course through Jun's body and he looked down again, unsure how much harder Jun could press his face into his unyielding plate. Shu wished very much that the boy had remained unconscious. He trembled more fiercely every minute.

Jun shifted slightly, gasped for air, and Shu became keenly aware that the boy was scarcely breathing at all, that even the natural motion of respiration was causing him tremendous pain. Shu loosened his grip and Jun clung tightly to him.

"I don't want to die, Shu niichan," Jun said quietly. "I've got clinic on Tuesday."

Shu skidded to a halt and looked down, wide eyed with surprise and panic. "What did you just say?"

Jun did not open his eyes, did not even acknowledge that Shu had stopped. "I have to study," he said. "And I've got a mountain of paperwork, and filing."

Shu stared hard at Jun and rolled the affectionate term over and over in his mind. There were few people who ever called Shu niichan and he understood immediately what that meant. He was holding Jun, and Jun was badly wounded and utterly delirious.

Up ahead Shin stopped and turned, confused by Shu's sudden halt. "Shu!" he called. "We've got to keep moving."

Shin's voice pulled the stunned warrior back to reality immediately and Shu sprinted forward. Shin fell into step beside him and Shu looked at him desperately.

"What happened?" Shin said urgently. "Is he okay?"

Shu shook his head and looked down the way. "Have I ever mentioned to you that our lives would make a really awesome episode of the Twilight Zone?"

Shin shot Shu a look that bordered somewhere between confusion and amusement but offered no reply to the odd statement. Shu said nothing else so consumed was he by worry and fear. Even if he had wanted to tell Shin what he knew he would never be able to articulate it.

The warriors ran on through the crumbling tunnel for so long that Toma, still at the point position, worried that he had erred in his decision to go left. But eventually the tunnel darkened and the smooth forged brick gave way to natural gray stone and the way opened suddenly into the massive stalactite cavern that Toma had woke in hours before. The strata felt relief and was bolstered by the familiar territory.

"We're almost there," Ryo cried and pointed to the north wall. "That way. There's only one path out from here."

"Thank god," Shu grumbled and looked at Jun again. The boy had drifted back into unconsciousness yet continued to shiver and breathe in short labored gasps.

It took only a few more minutes for the group to pass through the wide coliseum in which Ryo had been trapped. They looked up as they passed through and the air hung so thick with the haze that they could not see the sky as they passed underneath. But when they passed through the long entrance hall and passed out of the temple the haze dissipated, revealing the dark night. As they ran the paired columns crumbled and toppled over and the moment the last man stepped off of the last stone stair the whole structure fell instantly into dust.

Toma stopped at the front of the group and turned to watch the spectacle, and the others stopped with him, glad for the rest. "Well, we're out anyway," he said between deep breaths.

"And not a moment too soon," Shin remarked.

"What do we do now?" Ryo said after a moment. "We're out but we don't know where we're at. And without the kid we've got nothing, no directions, no idea where we're going."

Toma shook his head and turned around. The ground around was desolate and broken, but some distance away began a thick forest that stretched down a slight hill. Toma looked closely at the ground at his feet and followed a path toward the trees. "I think we should go that way," he said. "The kid left some prints on the ground, we'll need to follow them and maybe they'll lead us to Kayura."

Ryo looked at Toma confusedly. "To Kayura?"

Toma nodded, began walking toward the woods, and motioned for his companions to follow. "When we were separated he said that Kayura sent him," he explained as he walked and the others crowded close around him, except for Shu who remained a respectful distance behind. "He said that she's the one that ordered him to conceal himself and that once he was done rescuing us that he was going back home."

"What else did he say?" Shin said and was genuinely curious. Between Toma and Ryo's discussion and concern with the boy and Shu's odd reaction to him, Shin was still uncertain what to think.

"Not a whole lot," Toma replied and looked at Shin with sudden realization. "I forgot, I told you that we'd explain."

Shin gestured for Toma to continue his explanation.

"We don't know who he is, except that he's been given some kind of armor and the only reason we know that is because he was wearing black under gear beneath his clothes. He told me that he's from Toyama but I can't verify anything about that, and he knows pretty much everything about us that there is to know," Toma paused for a moment, thoughtfully. "And I'm pretty sure he despises me."

Shin quirked an eyebrow. "So he came in here, rescued all of us, and he hates you," he said and paused. "Only you?"

Toma shrugged and looked at Ryo. "He was hostile toward me. Verbally aggressive, he talked down to me. He didn't act that way toward Ryo or Shu or Seiji, though his interaction with Seiji has been obviously limited."

Shu piped up from behind suddenly. "Maybe we should wait to discuss all of this until he's awake," he said. "I'm sure he's got a good reason for acting the way he's been."

Ж

Kayura was the first to notice the break in the haze as she and Nasté sat quietly in front of Nasté's computer. They had been working since Jun had left that morning to compile information on the mysterious armor and the appearance of the haze that continued to spread from the mountains. By evening the mist had engulfed the shrine entirely and when the two women exited the house at dusk the unnatural darkness hung thick in the air.

They broke from work once at dusk and walked from the house to the shrine, where they sat in silence until well after sunset, waiting for the return of the warriors and Jun. When they did not return Nasté looked worriedly at Kayura, who simply smiled in reply, and led her back to the house.

When Nasté sat at her laptop she looked at Kayura once again and sighed. "Do you think they're all right?"

"Of course," Kayura said. "I would never have sent him if I didn't think that he was capable of protecting himself."

Nasté nodded and turned her attention to the laptop. She had searched every term and key word she could think of, every element and ever virtue, and every time had come up empty handed. So now she sat, frustrated and worried, and stared blankly at the screen.

At length Kayura stood, walked to the door, and peered out into the darkness. Nasté watched her as she peered outside, still and silent, and then Kayura turned. "They're free," she said. "Should we go meet them?"

Nasté stood, shocked, and rushed to the window. The world outside was bright and vivid and Nasté could see the moon and stars hanging in the sky. She jumped and clapped with delight. "They did it!" she cried. "Let's go!"

She grabbed Kayura by the wrist and rushed outside, across the courtyard, and down the path toward the shrine. When the two women reached the end of the path they stopped and watched and waited. At length they heard quiet voices and as they grew louder Nasté rushed toward the edge of the woods.

When the warriors emerged from the woods they stopped and stared, and Nasté shrieked happily. She rushed forward and threw her arms around Toma's neck in celebration. Then she stepped back and looked at the disheveled group and she looked suddenly very grim.

"What happened?" she said.

"We were hoping to ask you the same thing," Toma said with a sigh and looked at Kayura, who stood smug on the path. "We need some expert healing," he said. "Seiji and," he paused and looked back to Shu, motioning absently toward Jun. "He's wounded and Seiji has been unconscious for a while now."

Nasté looked over Toma's shoulder, suddenly terrified. "Jun!" she cried and rushed over. "What happened? Is he okay?"

Shu backed away from the frantic woman and looked at his companions, who turned and stared at him with the same incredulous expression the he wore himself. Nasté laid her hand gently on Jun's forehead.

Toma gaped at Jun for a long moment and then turned to Kayura. "You've got a lot of explaining to do."

Kayura smiled genuinely and motioned for the collectively stunned warriors to follow.


	11. Chapter 11

Note: Yay new content! This is a new chapter, I promises, and if you haven't revisited chapter 1 yet please do! R&R and all that good stuff.

Chapter 10

Visions came in bright wild flashes. Suppressed emotions flared bright and burned away to dull gray ash.

He heard the slow steady thumps of a heart in its last moments of life, loud and powerful as a bass drum. He did not know to whom it belonged.

A flash of white light blinded him and faded into the stale palette of the world. A glimpse of a reality that had once been, then darkness bolted through his mind and tore the color away in thick shreds.

What had he seen? People? People he recognized but could not recall. They were faceless and soundless, figments of an imagination lost in a twisted mass of blood and metal.

He watched as a shadow of himself peered out of the window. White snow rushed past and a mountain, an amalgamation of white, green, and brown, loomed off on the horizon. A rush of black came suddenly down the rock, a thick rolling fog that flew free and fast over the uneven ground, and the shadow enveloped him in a sharp cold darkness.

He felt a jolt, heard a crash, hysteric screams assaulted his sensibilities. A woman's voice echoed loud through the veil, shrieking and wailing in the throes of a violent and painful death. Then it was quiet but for the irregular rattle of shallow breaths.

The veil was warm and numb and he opened his eyes to be greeted by darkness so absolute that he did not know whether he was alive or dead. He saw through a tiny crack in the wreckage a long thick stream of bright red blood against the black. It radiated with heat and fluorescence as it dripped through the dark onto his skin.

A voice broke through the void, a whisper that wove around his hollow breath so delicately that he was scarcely even aware of its existence. "Harbinger of death."

Ж

When Jun woke his body would not move. He felt his heart race, heard his rapid gasps, and felt pure unfettered panic. His body was numb but his mind raced with the implications of sudden remembrance.

It was not the first time he had had such a dream, similar nightmares were frequent and while they were not of consistent intensity they all featured the same rapid succession of images. They all ended with the crash.

But this one hadn't.

As he stared at the white blank ceiling he struggled to remember the details, the blood, and the darkness. He repeated the scene over again in his head until eventually the hysteria faded and he was left with thin memories of the dream tugging at the back of his consciousness.

He sat up slowly and winced at the dull ache that pulsed in his chest. He had been bandaged neatly, if a bit too tight, and deep bruises bloomed from beneath the white like a field of dark flowers. A thin line of red showed through the wrap.

He realized then that he was alone in an unfamiliar place, sitting on a traditional futon in the middle of a tiny square tatami room with bright white walls. The place was largely undecorated; a second futon was folded neatly against the wall to his left and a dark wooden chair sat in a corner beside a small table. Draped over the chair was a simple white shirt.

Jun reasoned that he was back at the shrine, safe, and that the others had cared for him as best they could. He supposed that Nasté had already explained everything.

With a sigh Jun got to his feet and walked to the chair where he pulled on the shirt with some difficulty. Then he returned to the futon, folded it neatly and placed it against the wall with the other, and walked to the door, a large sliding shoji through which he could hear the quiet conversation of the others, though he could not make out what they said.

He slid the door open and looked both ways down the long corridor. To his left was a dead end and to the right some distance down was a single stair that opened into a much larger space, probably the sitting room where he, Nasté, and Kayura had spent the majority of their time before he left. He walked to the stair and stopped with his back to the wall. Then he listened.

"I don't think this is a good idea," he heard Ryo say. "We don't know what's going on, we don't know who this person is, why it targeted Seiji, we've got nothing."

"It targeted me to get to him," Seiji said flatly. "And I don't think we ought to let him go yet."

Jun heaved a sigh from behind the wall and slumped down. He had been under the impression that his going home was not up for debate, he and Kayura had agreed that as soon as he returned with the others that he would be finished with the whole business. It seemed that the others had different plans.

"He won't be an asset if he's not here of his own choosing," Kayura said at length. "Let me assure you he is a brilliant young man but he will be of no use to you if he doesn't want to be here. Yes, it would be dangerous to let him go but it would be more dangerous to keep him here against his will."

Jun was confused by this comment. He was uncertain exactly to what danger Kayura was referring and uncertain as to the validity of the agreement between them.

"Maybe we should go wake him up," said Shin after another stretch of quiet. "It's been almost fifteen hours; he should be well enough rested by now to at least have a talk with us."

Jun stood upright again and breathed deep. Better to face them on his own terms than to have one of them catch him eavesdropping, he thought, and then he steeled himself for his  
presentation. He shoved his hands in his pockets and strode casually into the room with his eyes on the floor.

"Jun!" Nasté cried and rushed to his side. "You shouldn't be out of bed!" She grasped Jun by his arms and surveyed him up and down several times.

"I'm fine," he said and pushed her gently aside. She looked hurt as she made her way back to her seat at Ryo's side, and when Jun looked to the others he was met by the wide eyed stares of the five warriors and Kayura. "What?" he said defensively. "It's not like this came as a surprise."

Kayura stood and waved him over, inviting him to take her seat. Instead Jun slid to the side and leaned casually against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest with Byakuen ever at his side. Kayura sat back in her seat and regarded him curiously. "We have a matter to discuss with you," she said.

Jun looked at her expectantly but remained quiet.

"You recall that I told you that you could go home once you retrieved the others," Kayura said. "It seems that our plans have necessarily changed."

"Bullshit," Jun replied and his voice dripped with animosity. "Your plans didn't necessarily change; they changed because it was convenient for you."

"Hey," Ryo cried. "You can't talk to her like that."

Jun shot Ryo a sharp glare and Ryo's offensive posture diminished immediately. "I can talk to her however I damned well please. Sit down and keep quiet, this isn't your affair," Jun said.

From aside Shu leaned to Ryo with a chuckle. "He told you," Shu said and Ryo looked angry and defeated.

Kayura cleared her throat and regarded Jun gravely. "Your safety is my primary concern."

"Bullshit."

"Fine," Kayura said, offended. "Believe whatever you want. The fact of the matter is that I simply can't let you leave until we know exactly what we're dealing with. It's too big of a risk to let all of you go gallivanting around the country unsupervised."

"Somehow I don't feel like this is my problem. I pulled my end of the deal," Jun said. "Seems to me that you couldn't hold up your end and now you're backing out."

"See it however you want," Kayura said. "The point still stands."

"You've got until tomorrow morning," Jun said, "After that I'm out of here. I can take care of myself."

Kayura looked perplexed. "Two days," she bartered and Jun looked at her coldly, apparently unwilling to barter. "There is much work to be done, and you're still badly wounded besides."

"Noon the day after tomorrow," Jun said. "Then Nasté is taking me to the nearest train station so I can get back home. You're not the only one with work to do around here."

Kayura seemed happy enough with Jun's concession and she beamed with her victory. But her smile faded when she saw the confused and angry expressions splayed over the faces of the rest of the room and she collected herself as best she could. She cleared her throat once more and spoke in as professional a tone as she could. "We know that whomever we are up against is very powerful and very dangerous," she said, picking up an earlier conversation. "But we do not know who or what it is."

Seiji seemed suddenly alert then and looked to Jun with interest. "Does the name Mai mean anything to you?"

Jun returned the interested expression and shook his head. "You were unconscious for quite a while," he said. "Are you feeling all right?"

"Nothing at all?" Seiji continued, deliberately ignoring the question. "That name has no significance to you whatsoever?"

Jun pondered this for a moment and gazed at the ceiling in thought. "I slept with a girl named Mai once," he said and when he looked back at the group they seemed shocked by the candid admission. Nasté blushed bright red, looked away from him, and Jun shrugged. "Though it was not an event of particular significance whatsoever," he continued, mocking Seiji's inquiry directly.

"Was she eight years old and dead?" Seiji remarked slyly and it was Jun's turn to appear shocked and disgusted. "Because the particular young lady I was dealing with was certainly one of those two things."

"How do you mean?" Jun said.

"What he means is that we're dealing with a vengeful spirit," Ryo said bitterly. "And she said she was your sister."

Nasté touched Ryo's arm gently. "Calm down," she whispered and he relaxed noticeably.

"Ryo is right to be upset," Shin said so quietly that Jun could scarcely hear him at all. Then Shin turned around, sat backward on the sofa, and seemed genuinely empathetic toward Jun. "None of us want to deal with this, but for the time being we have to take it seriously."

"I don't have any siblings," Jun said to Shin. "My mother and father never mentioned anything about other children, if they had plans I wasn't aware."

"Then she lied to me," Seiji reasoned and stared at the ground for a long while. "I know that she was not operating alone."

Kayura leaned forward and rested her chin on her hand. "You had mentioned something of that earlier," she said. "Please, divulge."

Seiji leaned back in his chair and pondered for a moment. "She came and went frequently," he said.

"Came and went from where?" Jun interjected.

"She inhabited my consciousness," Seiji explained. "And each time she left and returned she imparted me with more knowledge."

Jun pushed himself away from the wall and leaned against the back of the sofa, poking his head between Shin and Shu. "She told me that you let her in willingly."

Seiji laughed. "She was bluffing," he said. "To get you angry."

Shu looked at Jun with a smirk. "It seemed to have worked, too," he said and then gazed coyly at Seiji. "He dominated you."

Seiji glared at Shu then. "She didn't have access to everything," he said. "I let her have enough to make it seem as though I was fully under her influence."

"Sure," Shu said sarcastically. "Save face, I don't mind."

"To the point, Seiji," Kayura said loudly and Seiji focused at her urgency.

"She was tracking you, Jun," Seiji said. "And periodically she would report to someone else the things she had seen you doing. Whenever she returned to me she brought images and emotions. I don't know the exact nature of her superior or what its goal is, but I do know that it exists."

"Why would someone track me," Jun said.

"You know very well why someone would want to track you," Kayura scolded and eyed Jun grimly. "And be happy I've not disclosed that information to your friends."

Jun was startled by Kayura's threatening expression. He had forgotten that she knew of his less-than-legal exploits in the city and had not considered the implications of the warriors, or Nasté for that matter, knowing any of it. He slumped a bit against the couch and continued to listen despite the curious glances aimed his direction.

"Well if she wanted him why did she get all of us involved?" Shu said. "That seems like a backwards way of going about it."

Seiji shrugged. "She or her superior must have wanted all of us. I would imagine that they were in the same boat as we were, as far as knowledge of this situation," he said slowly and looked to Jun. "Likely that they didn't know of this strange black armor just as we didn't know about it."

Jun stared at the floor and felt everyone's eyes shift to him. He felt uneasy then, like they were prying into him and his skin crawled with the thought. Byakuen nudged him gently.

"Why didn't you summon it when you had the chance?" Shu said and turned about on the couch. "I would have been excited."

"I didn't think it was necessary," Jun replied placidly. "I was able to handle everything up to the production of the kanji orb easily enough."

"You almost died."

All eyes turned to Toma as he spoke with such uncharacteristic anger. He had remained silent since they returned, had seemed almost resentful, and he had been sitting in the same defensive position since the meeting had begun some hours ago. Jun was the last to look at Toma and he met the strata's hard gaze with his own steel.

"Don't be stupid," Jun said venomously. "There was no almost dead about it."

"You were badly poisoned," Toma replied. "You were suffering serious pain; you broke mentally at least once and lost complete muscular control toward the end of it."

Jun cocked an eyebrow then and pushed himself away from the couch. "It was a high morbidity toxin and in a huge majority of cases high morbidity does not mean high mortality. I was in no danger of dying," Jun said with such fluency and finality that it seemed he was reading from an elementary school textbook. He regarded Toma once again and the warrior did not seem impressed by the complexity of Jun's argument, though the others gawked.

"Don't talk down to me," Toma said indignantly. "I know exactly what was going on with you in there and now you're too big of a tough guy to admit that you might need our help."

"Says the guy that had to be rescued," Jun retorted. "I'll be damned if you think I'm going to take advice from someone who is incapable of watching his own back."

Toma stood up then, angry and offended by Jun's implication. "Says the deviant that had to be carried like a defenseless child for the last third of the ordeal," he spat.

"I did all the work in there," Jun yelled. "You couldn't have taken half the beating I did and come out alive."

"You think so, kid?"

Jun stepped forward. "You want to see?"

By this time the two were shouting loudly and the others looked on in horror and confusion. They all remembered Toma saying that Jun despised him but none of them could fathom that the once brotherly relationship between the two could have deteriorated so severely. The two were at each other's throats like a pair of angry wolves, and now they stared at each other with a smoldering rage so intense that the other warriors were too intimidated to make a move.

"Maybe we should take a break," Shin said tentatively as he looked between the two, but they did not move.

The tension hung in the air for a long moment before the two exploded into action, and no one could be certain what set them off. In two strides Toma was up and over the sofa on which Shu and Shin sat, toppling the furnishing and its occupants in the process, and Jun took the first hit without so much as attempting to dodge. He returned the punch in kind, catching Toma square in the jaw, and Toma threw his fist low and connected solidly with Jun's injured side.

Jun staggered back in agony and scowled at Toma. "You fight dirty, you little girl," he growled and then rushed back in. Toma threw another punch and Jun caught his fist tight. In the same fluid motion Jun wrenched Toma's arm backward in a deft feint and slammed him violently against the wall. He leaned against Toma with all of his diminutive weight and pressed hard against the back of Toma's neck with his forearm.

By this time the others had scrambled to their feet and as Jun successfully pinned Toma to the wall Shu and Shin grabbed hold of him roughly by the arms. Jun spoke low and threatening before Shu and Shin pulled him away, and despite his best effort he could not hide the hate dripping from his voice. "If you ever touch me again I'll lay you out."

At last Shu wrenched Jun away from Toma and he and Shin wrestled him back several yards. Ryo and Seiji treated Toma similarly though they were far gentler, and Toma and Jun glared at each other even as they were separated.

"Excuse us," Shu said, and he and Shin ushered Jun from the meeting room, down the hallway, and out of sight.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 11

The house remained quiet for hours after Toma and Jun's explosive fight and Seiji, Kayura, and Nasté were the only ones interested in continuing the debriefing exercise. Ryo and Toma were effectively locked in one of the upstairs bedrooms while Shin, Shu, and Jun were casually conversing in the tatami room in which Jun had waked. Despite the physical separation of the two fighters, the air of the house was tense and uneasy.

Nasté had presented each of the separate parties with dinner and bedding and while Ryo and Toma brooded angrily over the altercation long after its conclusion, Shin, Jun, and Shu seemed at ease with their seclusion. Shu made it seem as though Jun was friendlier to them than he had ever seemed with the group as a whole and Nasté found this a curious observation.

In the meeting room Kayura and Seiji spoke most of the time as a psychiatrist to a patient. Kayura asked pointed questions about Seiji's capture, his memories of events between the beginning and end of his captivity, and Seiji answered them all as concisely as anyone would expect. Meanwhile Nasté typed away at her computer, researching and compiling data as it was exposed while continuing the inquiry into the mysterious black armor.

Presently Seiji reclined comfortably on one of the sofas with his arm draped sleepily across his eyes, clearly becoming frustrated with the endless line of questions. All three of them understood that without the input of the others there would be no progress to be had, and even if they could gather the troops together once more there was no chance that Jun would answer any of the necessary personal questions.

"Can you tell me what happened immediately after your release?" Kayura said. "Or do you not recall."

"She was angry. She said that Jun wasn't supposed to be as skilled as he was," Seiji replied blandly. "And then she swore about fortitude. I don't remember anything after that."

"About fortitude," Kayura repeated and when Seiji nodded his affirmation she leaned back in her seat. "No doubt that she was referring to the virtue of fortitude."

Seiji sat up then, perturbed by the mention of virtue. "I don't agree with that," he said and Kayura looked at him quizzically. "Fortitude is a virtue that demands purity of spirit. I don't think anyone would disagree with me when I say that whoever that kid is upstairs he is certainly not pure of spirit, and he's definitely not Jun."

Kayura shook her head. "There are a few things that you, and the others, must understand," she said and her voice was deliberate and slow. "First is that the boy that you knew is gone for reasons that are not my place to explain. He is lost and simply returning to your collective company will not bring him back. His heart will not be changed by coming home to you; it depends solely on the welcome he receives when he finally chooses to join you," she paused and looked sadly to the floor. "And so far that welcome has been quite underwhelming."

Seiji glanced at Nasté then and she seemed upset by the explanation. He was as of yet completely uncertain what to think and Nasté was offering no help. Kayura's long winded speeches were painting Jun in a particularly dark light and yet she refused to elaborate on her knowledge of his life. She always insisted that it wasn't her place.

Kayura continued her speech after a brief pause. "Second is that fortitude, and all of your virtues for that matter, are aspects that can be justified and acted upon from the perspective of the just as well as the corrupt. Remember that virtue is the midpoint between excess and deficiency, good and evil have no effect on that."

"What do you mean?" Nasté said.

"On one side of fortitude is rashness, acting without any fear whatsoever and that is acting with excess," Kayura explained. "On the side of deficiency is cowardice and we all understand that heroes and villains both can be rash or cowardly. So, too, can either be courageous, can they carry characteristics of fortitude."

"So his virtue is fortitude," Seiji said, resigned, and lay back down. "Just dark fortitude."

Kayura shrugged. "Darkness seems a harsh term, though fitting from what I see."

"So now we have to figure out what this armor is," Nasté said. "I'm coming up empty handed everywhere I look."

"I doubt that there is any way we can come to any answers until Jun accepts and wields the armor," Kayura said. "If he puts it on then we can test it, figure out from what it draws its power, and then we will have something to go on."

Seiji sighed. "There's no telling how long that's going to take. The way you talk he's completely unwilling to cooperate with any of us."

Suddenly Nasté sat straight and smiled wide. "He's getting on very well with Shin and Shu," she exclaimed. "Maybe they can help."

Ж

Shu, Shin, and Jun reclined comfortably on the futons they were provided and chatted the hours away. It had taken some time for the two close friends to get anything at all out of Jun, monosyllabic answers notwithstanding, but once he had thoroughly examined and rewrapped the bandages on his chest he began tentatively answering the mostly benign questions.

Shu and Shin asked about school, extracurricular activities, and other mundane aspects of life, to which Jun responded candidly, though he often omitted certain details from the stories which may have caused unnecessary alarm. He reported that his marks were relatively high upon graduating high school, which they were if one considered the debilitating circumstances he faced those years ago, that he was undefeated in kendo through his third year in high school, which he certainly was though mostly because the other participants were afraid of him, and that between clinic hours he acted as a delivery boy running odd jobs around Toyama City for high paying clients. It wasn't a complete lie, he figured, and so it was harmless enough.

As the hours passed more and more of the questions focused on clinic and Jun was prepared enough to explain how he had come to work there, what his credentials were, and how he managed not to get caught.

"I started almost immediately after high school," Jun explained. "I had a close relationship with a preeminent neurosurgeon that put me into contact with a local general practitioner."

"A neurosurgeon?" Shu said skeptically. "How did that come about?"

Jun felt the color drain from his face though if it actually had neither Shu nor shin said anything about it. His eyes darted about the room nervously as he tried desperately to think of a plausible lie. His mind blanked. He could mention the accident, say that that was how his mother and father passed away and that the neurosurgeon was the one that tried to save them, but even that half-truth would provoke more questions that Jun simply wasn't prepared to answer. He took a deep breath. "I met him through my father," he said, satisfied that the statement was a sufficient answer to the question yet vague enough to remain somewhat truthful.

"Okay," Shin said and glanced at Shu, who shrugged his reply. Despite Jun's strange reaction to the reasonable question the answer seemed realistic enough, granted that neither of the two had ever known what Mr. Yamano's vocation was. "So what do you do, exactly?"

Jun was relieved that the two apparently bought the mistruth. "Well, the portion of the clinic that I run is free," he said thoughtfully, as though his panic had never happened. There was no need to hide any of his activities at the office so he felt suddenly at ease. "For folks who've fallen between the cracks, people who've lost their jobs and have yet to enroll in the national program, those who can't otherwise afford to pay, sometimes businessmen who don't want their personal exploits to become public through medical records, you understand." Jun paused and looked between Shin and Shu, who nodded. "Tuesday I see those patients from nine in the morning until anywhere between seven and ten at night. It depends on how many are in and what they're having me examine. Wednesdays I run labs."

"What about the funding?" Shu asked.

"Part is from private donations though the majority comes from my own pocket, from the delivery work I do," Jun replied coolly.

"And what qualifications do you have to do this?" Shin said though his tone was neither accusatory nor skeptical. It was clear that the two admired the work that Jun was doing, though Jun was certain that their attitude would change if they understood the full scope of delivery work he was doing to fund it all.

Jun shrugged. "The lab work requires no real accreditation. As far as clinic is concerned I operate under the close watch of two qualified physicians who say that I'm as well off with them as any resident they ever worked with," he said and then smirked. "Besides, what would the news say if anyone shut me down, Toyama police close free health clinic for the poor? That's bad press and let me tell you that the last thing the city needs is bad press after the history it's had."

Shu and Shin exchanged interested glances once more.

"So there's practically nothing anyone can do to intervene in your clinic?" Shu said.

Jun shook his head. "We've been inspected before but the other two gentlemen claim that I'm simply observing their work as a medical student at a local college."

"But you're not a medical student," Shin said.

Jun shrugged. "I wish I was," he said honestly and a bit sad. "But it's too expensive. I've been studying since I was a second year in high school. It's really the only kind of science I can wrap my head around anymore."

"Anymore?"

Jun looked up again, startled by his inattention and this time Shin and Shu noticed. They watched closely as his eyes darted between them, his mind groping for an excuse. Jun shrugged then and his tensed muscles relaxed visibly. "I wanted to be a theoretical physicist," he said quietly and the admission was not a lie.

"A what?" Shu said quietly, and though Jun shot him a coy smirk he did not answer the question.

"But there came a time that I stopped being able to understand the abstract scientific principles behind it. I failed two physics courses and astronomy course because the numbers were too big, there were too many variables, everything was just," he paused to search for a word and looked at the ceiling, his head plopped down onto his hand. "It was just too abstract. But once I got into more concrete sciences it all clicked."

Shin and Shu eyed him raptly but offered no response.

"You've got to understand that in the world of medicine everything is concrete," Jun continued. "Every disease has known symptoms and even if they're not curable they're treatable in at least some capacity. People don't get sick without reason and symptoms don't present if someone isn't sick. Yeah, there are variables, but the answers to fill in those variables exist somewhere in the patient's life. It's all concrete."

Jun fell silent and watched as Shin and Shu processed the monologue. Shu seemed hopelessly lost in all of the circular logic and Shin's brow furrowed though if he was deep in thought or somehow upset Jun could not be certain. Shin sat straight and locked Jun's gaze intently.

"So what you're telling me is that you resent Toma because he is able to understand all of the abstract concepts that you can't."

The room was silent for a long moment. Shin awaited an answer and Shu was stunned by Shin's daring statement. He was under the impression that the conversation was to remain friendly, if awkward at times, and largely impersonal. Not only was Shin's inference inconsistent with his demeanor, it was completely impertinent. Now the casual conversation had been thrust back to the fight between Toma and Jun, and it had taken a long while for Jun to come out of the attitude in which the altercation had left him in the first place.

"First, you're wrong," Jun said evenly, maintaining eye contact with Shin. The staring contest lingered for another moment before Jun looked to Shu, then back at Shin. "But I respect the two of you enough to tell you what is going on. The fact of the matter is that I hate you, all of you."

The two warriors looked genuinely hurt. Jun spoke slow and deliberately and they knew by his unerring tone and stiff body language that he did not lie.

"I wish that I had never met any of you," Jun continued, looking between the two with narrow eyes. "I'm talking to you now out of civility, not because we're friends, not because we owe each other anything, but because we're stuck in this god forsaken house together for another day and a half and it may as well be pleasant. As far as Toma is concerned, he had it coming. Surely the two of you understand that intelligence does not equal social aptitude, and Toma has said and asked some completely inappropriate personal questions that the two of you are not entitled to hear. Frankly, the two of you have asked some inappropriate personal questions that I don't much care to answer."

Shin stammered for a moment before uttering a quiet apology and Shu nodded, speechless.

"Let me tell you that I harbor no personal resentment toward any of you. I want all of you to be happy and healthy and live long prosperous lives, but I don't want to be involved with any of it. As far as I'm concerned I could go the rest of my life and never see any of you again, and I was doing damned well at it until Kaosu dragged me up here to call me to arms."

"You blame us for that?" Shu asked.

Jun rolled over on his futon with his arm under his head. "Good night," he said quietly, and that was the end of the conversation.

Ж

Next morning the five ronins, Nasté, and Kayura sat in awkward quiet for their breakfast. No one wanted to acknowledge the tension but any time they looked at Toma they were reminded of the bitterness in the house. He sat at the end of the table, invested in some dusty old tome he'd found in a closet, and had neither looked up from it nor made a single sound since he'd sat down. His face was red and slightly swollen where Jun had hit him and the back of his neck was dark with bruises. He ate very slowly and radiated anger.

Shu and Shin periodically exchanged glances trying to silently decide whether or not they should disclose the sentiments that Jun had expressed the prior evening. Both of them were still uncertain exactly why Shin's statement had merited such a reaction but were slowly coming to the conclusion that perhaps it was because the statement had been dead on the mark.

They had other questions as well but knew that none of those present at the table could answer them with the possible exception of Kayura, but she had made it abundantly clear that it was not her place to disclose personal information.

Shin looked at Toma directly and cleared his throat. "What could cause someone to lose understanding of principles that they once understood?"

Toma did not look up from his book. "Ask the medic," he said coldly and turned a page.

Unfazed, Shin rested his head on his hand and gazed thoughtfully at his half-empty plate. "You don't have to brood so much," he said quietly. "It was just a question."

Toma slammed the book shut and glared at Shin. "Why?"

"Answer my question and I'll answer yours," Shin said slyly.

Toma was perturbed by Shin's evasive language but was genuinely curious why, of all the things to ask, Shin had chosen such an irrelevant subject. "Trauma," Toma said. "Physical or emotional trauma could have some effect on knowledge though for different reasons. Emotional trauma usually makes people forget but physical trauma can make the information disappear altogether."

Shin and Shu exchanged an uncertain look.

"Why?" Toma demanded again.

"I think we should send Jun home," Shin said quietly and ignored Toma's question. He looked between Nasté and Kayura then and the two women seemed confused. "There isn't any way he's going to work with us after last night. I made him angry."

Nasté seemed upset. "How?"

"Because I accused him of being resentful of Toma because Toma has understanding that Jun lost."

"You want to send him home because he's mad?" Ryo said skeptically.

Shin shook his head and looked solemn. "I want to send him home because this isn't where he belongs. He knows that and we all know that. Besides, he's too unstable to fight, if it comes to that. It's not doing anyone any good to have him stay here."

"Well, isn't that good reason to have him stay?" Ryo replied. "If we send him home alone and something happens then he won't be able to protect himself."

Shin shrugged and fell silent.

Shu stopped eating for a moment and gave a concise nod. "I agree with Shin," he said. "Send him home. He's too confident to understand that he can't handle everything on his own. He needs to learn that he needs us."

Nasté sighed. "Kayura said that he should stay here until we know what's going on. And we don't know what's going on."

"And we're not going to find out if we're all together like this, either," Seiji said suddenly. "Let's be honest, we're not getting anywhere with the questions and the computer. Maybe if we split up the enemy will show itself again and we can get some additional information that way."

"Sounds good to me," Shu said happily between bites. "Going solo or in groups?"

Kayura stood up and surveyed the group in front of her who now stared at attention. "Groups of two," she said. "It's entirely too dangerous for you to operate alone."

Shin grinned wide. "So you agree with me."

Kayura did not acknowledge him. "One of you needs to go with Jun back to Toyama to make certain that he remains safe."

The ronins exchanged looks of trepidation. Though no one would admit it none of them felt particularly comfortable going home with Jun, let alone staying close to him for an extended period of time. Not only was his personality slightly abrasive but they were also uncertain how he would react when fighting together with the others.

"I'm not doing it," Toma said. "I'm going home."

"I'll go with Toma," Ryo said and looked away from the others.

Shin and Shu glanced at each other then at Seiji, who seemed alarmed and surprised that everyone had turned on him at the same time. He held up his hands defensively before him and shook his head.

"I've got things to do at the dojo," he said evasively and then looked between Shin and Shu. "Besides, you two are the ones who spent the night with him; don't you think he'd feel more comfortable with one of you?"

"No," said Shin and Shu.

Seiji was visibly irritated as he looked down at his empty plate. "Fine, but I'm not staying with him."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 12

When Shin entered the tatami room after breakfast carrying a tray of rice balls Jun was seated on his futon with his bare back to the door, diligently rewrapping his chest. He heard the shoji door slide open but did not care who entered and did not acknowledge Shin's presence at all.

Jun had hardly slept that night and he felt mentally and physically exhausted because of it. He lay awake long after Shin and Shu had fallen asleep and listened to their quiet breathing, thoroughly regretting his angry tirade. He wondered if he had really meant the terrible things that he said and he wondered if he really did blame the warriors for the tragedy of his life, for his being called to arms.

It was not as though Jun didn't foresee the calling; he knew that it was coming long before it ever did, or at least he assumed it was coming. He had known since the day he woke in hospital with machines beeping and nurses bustling about. He had known since the doctor noted happily that Jun's awakening was a miracle.

Jun decided on that day five years ago that there were no such things as miracles. He should have died with everyone else and yet, for some reason, he lived. He realized then that he would be called. There was no other power great enough to allow such a speedy recovery: Only the armor.

Jun heaved a long sigh and tied off the wrap. No, he thought, he hadn't blamed them for anything. He was just angry and perturbed by the dream he'd had the night prior. He doubted that he would ever get over the guilt he felt for surviving where his parents did not and the reaction to the concern of Shin and Shu was a manifestation of fear. He thought that a scapegoat would ease the pain. He was wrong.

"Are you all right?" Shin said at last as he sat the food down in front of Jun. "You look ill."

"I'm fine," Jun snapped and regretted his defensive reaction at once.

Shin did not seem to mind Jun's misdirected rage. "I brought you some breakfast, it's not much but you know how hard it can be to keep any food around here."

Jun nodded and watched as Shin knelt down in front of him, wondering if Shin recognized his anxiety and depression or if his expression even showed that he felt anything at all. He set his jaw firmly and waited expectantly for the pep talk he knew that Shin gave when someone was feeling down.

"You're going home," Shin said and Jun must have looked surprised. Shin smiled broadly. "Nasté will have you on a plane this afternoon."

Jun stammered for a moment in his confusion. "What happened to staying here for my safety?"

"Well, that's the catch," Shin replied solemnly. "Seiji will be joining you and will be staying in Toyama. All of us are going in home in pairs."

"Oh."

"Don't worry though, you probably won't even run into him. He's as disinterested in seeing you as you are in seeing him. It's only in case something goes wrong and only for a few days; maybe a week."

Jun wasn't certain how to react to Shin's assumption. It wasn't so much that Jun was disinterested in having someone around; it was that he didn't want to put anyone in any more danger than absolutely necessary. When Jun was involved people tended to get hurt. Or die.

He remained quiet and anxious all afternoon and did not leave the tatami room until Nasté declared that all of the necessary arrangements had been made. He responded only with a timid wave when the others bid him, Seiji, and Nasté farewell and reclined comfortably in the back seat of Nasté's car. He wanted to sleep.

The drive from the shrine to Tokyo proper took several hours and Nasté passed the time in a vain attempt at casual conversation. Seiji humored her despite his obvious desire for quiet and Jun remained completely silent, half asleep with his back against the window. Eventually she ran out of questions and joined the two men in a tense silence.

Seiji stared absently out the window, watching the scenery fly by as he was apt to do on long car rides, and thought hard about the predicament with which he was now faced. He and Jun had exchanged very few words over the last day and only in an official capacity. Now he was charged with looking after the boy, and Jun was to look after Seiji, but it seemed that neither one cared what happened.

Seiji felt horribly disengaged by the project; he had never had the same relationship with Jun as the others, even in the beginning of it all, so he felt awkward and out of place. He had no idea how to speak to Jun, whether it would be appropriate to ask where he was staying, not that he couldn't be found with the yoroi ball, or how to reach him if the need came. Seiji wasn't even certain that Jun would respond to the questions, or to an attack if one should happen, he was so apathetic about everything that Seiji could only imagine him sitting comfortably on the sideline watching any battles with the sadistic delight of a bookie about to turn a massive profit.

All the same there was a nagging curiosity tugging at the back of Seiji's mind. There were so many questions to answer with no tactful way to go about asking. Seiji wondered what information he could gather. He had never considered himself to be particularly voyeuristic but he wanted desperately to know the secrets that Jun was hiding. Seiji reasoned that his curiosity was natural, given how drastically Jun had changed, and knowing Jun's motivation could very well prove essential to a fight.

He knew that Jun's family was dead though Jun refused to acknowledge any question or mention of the event and now, thanks to Shin, Seiji understood that there had been some massive trauma. There was resentment as well and a willingness to help if there was no other choice available. Jun was so full of contradiction and yet maintained total outward stoicism. Seiji wondered what was behind the thick iron wall.

Soon the two bade Nasté farewell and were comfortably seated aboard their plane, a mid-afternoon flight that was sparse enough that many seats remained empty. The cabin hummed with the low rumbles of conversation and when the plane finally took flight the roar of the engine enveloped it all in white noise. Jun closed his eyes.

"Are you asleep?" Seiji said some time later, and Jun had indeed been asleep.

"I would be if you'd quit talking so damned much," Jun lied. Seiji hadn't said a word since leaving Nasté in Tokyo.

"You know that sword you had was bogus, don't you?"

Jun shot Seiji a skeptical glance and closed his eyes again. "What are you talking about?"

Seiji grinned slyly, though Jun paid him no mind, and peered out the window. "I took a look at it last night, you toasted the thing. It was a ceremonial piece; no sword smith in his right mind would make a blade imbued with gold. It's too malleable."

Jun felt his face warm with blush, embarrassed by Seiji's revelation. "I used what I was given, what do you want me to do about it now?"

Seiji shrugged. "I didn't mean any offense; you did fine given that kind of handicap. You should be glad I held Mai back when you fought me or else my nodachi would have sliced you and that toy sword in half."

Rather than dignifying Seiji's cocky remark with a response, Jun visibly slumped in his seat. "You're not the kind to taunt someone. What are you getting at?"

Seiji leaned forward, rested his head on his hands, and looked seriously at Jun. "You should have summoned your armor when you had the chance," he said gravely. "You have no idea what you're going to be working with when the time comes and I'm certain you're not particularly experienced with any weapon but a single sword."

"Maybe I'll get lucky."

Seiji blew a sigh and reclined in his seat once more, defeated by Jun's dismissive response. Clearly the boy didn't care about any of what Seiji had to say and Seiji wasn't going to argue. "Have it your own way, then," he said passively. "But don't come crying to me when you're stuck with a daisho and have no idea how to handle yourself."

Jun grumbled under his breath. "I watched nito ryu in high school."

Seiji grinned.

Predictably, Jun gave no indication of where he would be going once he and Seiji disembarked and, in fact, barely said goodbye, gave only a short halfhearted wave and a _ja_ as he disappeared expertly into the crowd. Seiji had hoped for a friendlier departure but did not honestly expect it and so the disappointment he felt was utterly inexplicable. He made a note to find Jun's hangouts with the yoroi ball later on and hailed a taxi to his hotel.

Ж

Sometime around midnight Seiji found himself seated in an uncomfortable booth near a large window in a dilapidated restaurant that catered to third shift loners and the occasional homeless person lucky enough to come by enough money for a meal. He had ordered matcha perhaps twenty minutes ago and it had not yet arrived, the wait staff was too busy staring and speaking in hushed whispers about the strange and wealthy looking Seiji, one of two patrons in the whole place.

Seiji was not disappointed by the lack of service or the obvious gossip. He was preoccupied, watching rapt the kanji orb in his lap that glowed green and sat discreetly hidden under the table. The orb had glowed softly since he arrived in his room that afternoon, a constant reminder of his purpose in Toyama, but the consistent light began to dim just as he was laying down to sleep. In a rush Seiji left the hotel, unkempt and sleepy, and followed the faintly radiating orb while paying no real attention to where it was leading him. Eventually the ball flared and grew progressively brighter until Seiji ended up in the booth, the orb burning bright between his legs.

He determined that Jun was somewhere across the road before he had even thought to enter the restaurant, but all of the surrounding buildings were dark and falling apart. He doubted there was working electricity anywhere on that side of the street. This was a part of the city that Seiji did not know, a seedy and greasy place that any respectable person, Seiji included, would steer well away from even in broad daylight. It was a place for shady characters and armed robberies and Seiji had a sick feeling in his gut that told him that it was no accident that Jun was among them.

The yoroi ball dimmed ever slightly and Seiji peered immediately out the window. Moments later a black figure darted across the alley between buildings, a silhouette against gray brown brick. It was the third time since Seiji sat down that the shadow leapt deftly toward the wall, vaulted up and onto the lowest tier of the rusted metal staircase that crept up the side of the building, rushed quietly up the four scaffolds, and disappeared into the night.

Seiji watched the orb continue to fade and heaved a long sigh. He knew that the figure was Jun and yet did not want to believe it. But the reaction of the orb and the sinking of his heart were no comfort, and he could not help but recall Shu and Shin's happy recollection of their conversation with Jun that morning. The phrase 'delivery boy' took on an entirely new and sinister meaning. Indeed Jun was delivering something, but Seiji doubted seriously that any of it was legitimate, much less legal.

But Seiji took some heart in the whole debacle. Jun had intentionally misrepresented himself to Shu and Shin, had told half-truths instead of all out lies, and Seiji understood this as an expression of respect. Despite the cold stone exterior that Jun wore he bore a soft spot, he did not want to be looked down upon, he wanted to seem good or innocent even if he was not.

It was unclear to Seiji whether Jun had acted out of self-interest or out of care for the feelings of Shu and Shin when he lied. On the one hand Jun had to have known that what he was doing was wrong, that if word got out it would jeopardize the already strained relationship between him and the world he was once part of. On the other hand telling the truth directly would cause everyone more grief and suffering, they would worry, be angry; they would be sad. It was already a test in and of itself to simply interact with Jun as he was presently, it would be much harder to tread around him if his shady dealings were exposed.

Seiji decided at length that he was incapable of discerning Jun's motivation. The situation was far more complicated than he'd given Jun credit for, yet Seiji knew that whatever event had forced Jun into this predicament was significantly more tragic than he'd initially believed.

After a time the orb grew bright once again and Seiji watched Jun return to the rooftop across the street, descend the metal stairs, and drop gracefully the last dozen or so feet to the ground. Then he disappeared into the alley again. The black of his clothes dissolved easily into the shadows of the buildings and he was gone.

Seiji continued to watch Jun come and go on a fairly regular schedule. After ten or fifteen minutes inside the squat building directly across the way Jun would leave, ascend the rickety stairs, and disappear. Anywhere between twenty and forty minutes later he would return and the process would repeat. Eventually Seiji stopped paying attention to the comings and goings of the boy next door and stood to leave. He dropped the money for his missing matcha and left the restaurant, gave one last glance at the alley, and walked away.

The warrior of halo fell asleep that night watching the slow pulse of his yoroi ball.

The next days passed quickly, each day the same as the one before, and Seiji remained ever in his room monitoring Jun's movements through the subtle changes of his orb. Each day the glow remained constant from the moment Seiji woke in the morning until somewhere between ten and eleven at night, hours Seiji assumed that Jun spent at home doing whatever illegal things deviant young men did, at which point the ball would dim and brighten as Jun worked in the slums.

Something strange happened on the fourth day. At eight thirty in the morning Seiji's yoroi ball flared to life, enveloping the room in a bright green glow, and then it dimmed slowly and remained constant once again. Seiji thought that such a severe reaction was curious, so as he woke he decided that he would go out and make certain that his young charge wasn't in any serious danger.

Seiji left his room at ten in the morning and followed the glowing yoroi ball in the opposite direction than the night those few days ago. It led him into a densely populated metropolitan district with a shop or stand on every corner. People hustled about, laden with bags of groceries and briefcases and everyone seemed in a rush.

Not more than two miles from the hotel the kanji orb flared bright as Seiji walked past an unremarkable building between two long and ornately decorated storefronts. He stopped and stepped back, unsure if he was in the right place despite the clarity of the yoroi ball's signal.

The lettering on the door read "Toyama Mid City Clinic, Makoto and Hashimi," then listed a phone number and address. Inside Seiji could see that every seat in the waiting room was occupied and he once again remembered what Shu and Shin had said. Clinic on Tuesdays, clients from nine in the morning until nine at night.

The hours printed on the door said nine to three.

When Seiji entered the building he was greeted happily by a young American woman that sat poised behind a wooden partition. She beckoned Seiji over with a wide smile and shuffled some papers as he approached.

"Welcome to the Midtown Toyama Clinic. How can I help you?" she said officially and Seiji knew at once that she was foreign. Her voice was irritatingly high pitched and the manner with which she carried herself screamed of unintelligence. Seiji assumed immediately that she was only at the clinic because she could push papers.

"I'm looking for Yamano Jun," Seiji said.

The girl nodded curtly at him and pulled a thick folder out of her pile of papers. She opened it and looked it over, then surveyed the waiting room, then smiled regretfully at Seiji. She never looked at him. "Did you have an appointment?"

"No," Seiji said, baffled.

"Then you'll need to wait," the girl said before Seiji could explain himself. "It looks as though Yamano-sensei is busy until noon with scheduled clients and then he will begin working on the walk-ins. Would you like me to pencil you in for some time this afternoon?"

Seiji shook his head defensively. "No, I'm not here for clinic. I'm here on personal business, I just need a minute."  
The girl recoiled, shocked and embarrassed. She apologized profusely and pushed the papers away. "You must be from the state," she said and stood. "Please, follow me."

Seiji was thoroughly confused. He had no time to insist that did not know what she was talking about, referring to him as someone from the state, but he shrugged and followed the girl anyway. She buzzed him through a thick security door and met him on the other side. After offering an awkward bow she hurried off down the long winding white hallway, passing several numbered doors with charts stuffed haphazardly into plastic trays, and then stopped suddenly at a three way intersection. She turned to Seiji and smiled wide again.

"Room twenty two," she said and pointed to the left. "He is with a patient right now but he doesn't mind when representatives of the state come to visit."

Seiji thanked the girl and walked tentatively down the hall. When he heard her shoes click away he breathed a sigh of relief and peered around at the numbered doors. When he reached twenty two he knocked quietly on the door.

"A minute, please," came a quiet response from the other side.

Seiji waited. Not more than two minutes later the door swung open and out walked a frail old woman leaning heavily on a cane. She smiled at Seiji and winked as she walked away, and Seiji poked his head into the room. "Jun?"

When Jun turned to the door he seemed as surprised to see Seiji as Seiji was to see him. His face smacked of confusion and he approached Seiji with a measure of caution. "What are you doing here?" he said and while his voice was stern he did not seem angry.

Seiji did not initially respond, so shocked was he by the appearance of the young warrior. Jun seemed nothing like the angry antisocial young man that had fought with Toma a few days prior. He was well put together, wore a dress shirt, a tie, and a gray sweater beneath a thigh-length white coat, and his otherwise unwieldy hair was styled with the precision of a high school cheerleader. He was utterly official in his appearance and he clutched a brown clipboard against his chest.

"What are you doing here," Jun demanded again and this time he did seem angry. "You can't be here."

Seiji shrugged and stepped inside, closed the door behind him. "You look tired, were you out late?"

"What do you want?"

"I came by to ask you a question."

"So ask and get the hell out."

Any notion that Jun's change in wardrobe was indicative of a change in attitude was gone. Seiji sighed and leaned against the wall. "What were you doing Friday night in that run down industrial district? And Saturday night, you were at the same place, weren't you?"

"That's none of your damned business," Jun spat, suddenly defensive. He glared at Seiji for a long moment and pushed past him into the hall.

Seiji followed close behind. "I'm not leaving until I get some answers."

Jun wheeled about on his heel and stared up at Seiji. "I told you it's not your business."

"It's my business if I'm supposed to protect you. Don't forget you're a part of this whole mess of kidnappings and youja. As far as anyone can tell you're the prime target of this whole mess."

"I'm in no danger from anyone downtown."

It was Seiji's turn to look angry then, and he glared at Jun with intensity. "I have to protect you from you. You're a danger to yourself."

Jun's felt suddenly hot and his stomach turned in knots. It wasn't that Seiji's cold stare intimidated him as much as it was that his statement hit him like a train. He felt his face flush and a lump formed in his throat. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said at length. "I'm fine."

Seiji's visage softened then and he spoke very quietly. "I'm not going to put my life in danger to protect you when you don't have enough self-respect to care if you live or die," he said. "When you want to quit playing doctor and admit that you've got a serious problem you know where to find us."

Then Seiji walked away and Jun was left in stunned silence.

That night Seiji returned to Nasté's home in Odawara. He knocked tentatively on the door at when Nasté answered she stammered.

"What happened?" She asked. "Is everything okay?"

Seiji shook his head. "I can't take it," he said quietly. "I don't take pleasure in watching people self-destruct, much less when they actively refuse help."

Nasté's eyes grew wide and she covered her mouth with her hand. She hadn't yet noticed that Jun was not with Seiji and the sudden realization left her scared. "You left him alone?"


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 13

Jun lay in his bed staring at the ceiling and feeling overwhelmed by self-pity. He hadn't slept since Seiji left him dumbfounded at the clinic and he continued to replay the confrontation in his mind. Even still he found it difficult to believe that he had managed to drive Seiji away, so often had Jun considered the warrior of halo to be too patient and too proper to tell anyone how he truly felt. Jun had never heard Seiji speak so softly, so angrily before and the memory gave him a chill. And yet, despite Seiji's frustration he still extended the invitation for Jun to return to Nasté's, to join the troopers and become the dysfunctional family that they had been during the first youja invasion.

Jun found it hard to believe that no matter what he did, no matter how cold and angry and explosive he was, the troopers continued to accept him as their own.

Jun clasped his hands behind his head. He wondered if perhaps he should get up and go study the night away at his desk as he did most nights, his nose buried in medical journals and case studies, but he could not tear his mind from the strange events of the last week. He could not stop thinking about his dream and the voice that whispered to him from within it, he could not stop thinking that this Mai character claimed to be his family. He could not stop wondering if Seiji was right when he said that Jun didn't care whether he lived or died.

As he lay there Jun tried desperately to answer the questions. He tried to remember his parents before the accident, if they had ever mentioned a pregnancy or another child at all, if they had been acting strangely. But Jun's memory refused to cooperate. He remembered reuniting with them after Arago, remembered them being amazed when he did so well on his entrance exams that he skipped a grade of middle school, but everything else was blank. He had only glimpses of memories and he could never be certain if those glimpses were real or if they were merely dreams that his wounded mind created to fill the void.

More troubling to Jun than the questions asked by the troopers were the questions he was asking of himself. He had made up his mind to tell vodka man downstairs that he wanted out, that he wanted to leave, to quit working such a dangerous and illegal job in order to pursue a legitimate career in medicine. And when Jun had uttered the defiant words that evening vodka man laid him out flat, dragged him to the bedroom, and locked him inside. When Jun woke later that night he truly believed that there was no way out and his heart sank and his eyes grew hot with moisture. He wondered what he could do, how he would tell Nasté what he'd been up to, how she would react. Maybe if he explained his desperation after the accident she would be more understanding. She had to find out some time.

Jun rolled over onto his side and stared at the wall. He wondered what time it was. Then he closed his eyes, sighed and decided that he would have to do some research before he could return to the troopers. He needed an extensive medical history for his mother, needed to revisit the accident that had taken her away. It was a moment in his life that he chose to avoid at all costs but now it seemed that it was a day he could no longer deny. He had to know what that voice meant when it called him the harbinger of death. He had to know what caused it all.

For the first time in many years Jun fell asleep hoping that he would dream of that day.

Some hours later Jun woke to the sound of an explosion and the room around him rocked. He smelled fire and heard faintly vodka man's terrified yelps echoing from the sitting room. Jun jumped from his bed, rushed to the door, and pulled hard against it. The door was still locked and there was no way for Jun to open it from the inside.

At length the house fell silent, the trembling stopped, and Jun began to panic. He looked all around and cursed at his bedroom's lack of windows. On his desk the yoroi ball erupted into a bright black light and Jun stared at it helplessly, faced with the sudden choice of being trapped in an apparently burning house and wielding the armor that he continued to reject. After a moment spent frozen in debate he grasped the orb and held it up, summoned the black under gear, and looked again at the door.

He knew that the under gear imparted him with strength and speed that he did not have under normal circumstances and yet he remained uncertain that he could bust through the strong lock. He charged at the door then and connected hard with his shoulder, and when the door gave way he stumbled forward and crashed head first into the wall. Then he stood, dazed, and looked about.

Thick billows of black smoke filled the hall and the sick smell of the burning house sent Jun reeling. He rushed down the stairs and peered into the sitting room. Then he stopped dead in his tracks and stared.

The whole place was ablaze; tall orange flames licked at the ceiling and the paint bubbled and melted from the walls. A strong frigid breeze blew through the room and Jun could see clearly that the whole back end of the home had been demolished. Through the gaping hole the rest of the neighborhood was in a similar state, the house opposite his had crumbled to its foundation and several more structures burned in the distance.

How long had he been asleep? What the hell had happened?

Jun rushed toward the back of the house, ducking under fallen wood beams and dodging the rapidly spreading fire. As he rushed he felt ever more ill. He knew that something terrible was happening and he suspected that he was the cause.

As soon as he entered the sitting room proper he was certain. The walls were stained with dark red blood, as if someone had taken to the room with a vat of splatter paints, and it caked thick on the floor and dripped from the ceiling. It sizzled and stunk when it hit the flames. In the midst of this chaos lay vodka man, his torn and broken body splayed out on the floor, insides dripping from a dozen wide jagged wounds on his torso. It seemed as if his body had been shredded and his face was frozen in a twisted and wide eyed scream of terror.

Jun's blood ran cold and his head became light. His first thought through the nausea and panic was medical aid, but he knew that the effort would be useless. Vodka man was quite dead already and no amount of help could ever begin to repair the extensive damage to his body.

The hope of resuscitation was replaced then by guilt, intense and painful guilt of a kind Jun hadn't felt in years, and he was overwhelmed. It was his fault that vodka man was dead. Jun lived in the same house; vodka man was directly responsible for Jun's life. If Jun hadn't been around then vodka man would still be alive.

He understood suddenly what the voice in his nightmare meant when it had called him a harbinger. Death followed him wherever he went, methodically picking away anyone who cared enough to get close. It was inescapable and Jun cursed himself emphatically for ever allowing vodka man into his life.

Jun continued to stare as the house crumbled into flame around him. He wondered how long death had been following him, how many of the terrifying murders and bodies of junkies downtown were his own fault, directly or not. Doubt crept into his mind that the wreck that killed his parents was an accident at all. It was his fault.

As he stood there staring blank at the massacre before him Jun grew ever more lost in the sudden swell of suppressed emotion. His senses numbed and his mind raced with grief and self-loathing. He felt only vaguely the bite of the frigid and unnatural wind as it swirled around him, was no longer aware of the fire or the cold. He heard nothing and felt nothing except for the warm wetness of his eyes and guilt for the strong iron beat of his heart.

The room echoed then with a piercing roar and Jun was uncertain from where it came. When he whirled about he caught his breath; Byakuen hunched in the doorway, the hair on its neck stood on end and its posture suggested that it was about to pounce. The tiger issued another cry though Jun could scarcely hear it through the wind, then turned and rushed away.

Jun followed the tiger into the night and watched as it bolted down the road, dodging piles of flaming debris and ducking between panicked residents of the neighborhood who rushed away from their crumbling houses. The sky above was black and foggy and Jun realized at once that the same haze that had enveloped the shrine had fallen over the city and was thicker and more oppressive than it had ever been there. The air swirled with long black bodies that dove and attacked the retreating residents.

Jun took off down the way blinded by fear and adrenaline. The devastation was so complete that he wondered if the world was ending and with the icy and unnatural shapes darting about he was certain that if he stood still he would be engulfed. And though he ran with no intended destination he soon found himself in the trade district.

People ran wildly through the streets screaming for loved ones and their lives. Those who did not run fast enough were thrown to the ground by the diving spirits and, more often than not, were killed unceremoniously on the spot. Already the streets were littered with the bloody bodies of the dead and dying and their numbers grew every moment.

He was surprised when he found himself standing in the waiting room of his clinic, staring at the empty space as though it would give him solace or guidance. But the blood sprayed on the wooden partition and seeping over the ground was no comfort at all; anyone who had remained in the place that evening was dead. The world was dying. Most of them were already gone.

"I knew you would come here," said a voice from behind the partition and when Jun looked a dark woman stood behind it. Her voice was low and smooth as she spoke and sounded with such cold intensity that Jun could not help but be horrified.

"Who are you?" He demanded, and the woman laughed. "What is going on here?"

"After our encounter in the temple I did not expect you to be afraid to summon the shadows," she said, suddenly quite serious.

"What are you talking about?"

The woman seemed genuinely confused then. "You have yet to accept your armor," she said at last and a sly smile tugged at her thin lips. She looked out the window and crossed her arms over her chest. "You understand that the devastation of this prefecture is your fault, don't you?"

Jun remained very still. He understood that the woman was toying with him though she spoke so cryptically that he was entirely uncertain what was truth and what was a lie. He did not dignify her with an answer; he merely clenched his jaw and steeled his gaze upon her.

"Surely you don't believe you can return to the others in your condition," she continued. "Not only are you too weak to wield your armor, your mere presence will corrupt the others beyond hope of being saved. You will be their undoing just as you've brought doom to so many others. It is not coincidence that you are here, alive among the wreck that you call your city while the helpless fools outside die."

"Who are you?" Jun growled.

"My name is Mai," the woman said and walked through the partition before dipping into a low bow. She swept her hand along the floor and peered at Jun with a wide smile. "I am a servant of the nether realm and a bringer of death. But that is beside the point," Mai continued and stood straight. "The fact of the matter is that you do not fully understand the havoc you have brought to this place, to those you love, to those you serve."

Jun swallowed hard and stepped back. Thoughts fluttered through his mind of summoning his armor, though he did not know how to do it, and wiping this spirit out before she could cause any more harm.

"There is hope, however, if you should choose to serve with me," Mai said thoughtfully. "You are a young man with potential beyond your reckoning, if you would surrender yourself to my lord and master then your friends could be saved."

"They're not in any danger," Jun spat. "Certainly not from you."

"Fine then, I'll simply have to dispose of you the same way as I disposed of that disgusting specimen in your house, the same way I disposed of your mother and father."

Jun's eyes grew wide and his heart jumped into his throat. He did not understand what she meant by the threat but he was certain that there would be no way for him to counter her attack without the assistance of an armor or the other troopers. So he did the only thing he could, turned and fled the building, and sprinted as fast as he could toward the eastern outskirts of the city. Perhaps if he could escape the fog then he would be safe. Perhaps then the others would be safe.

The spirits were never far behind him when he exited the clinic. They dove at him recklessly and though they did not hit him with force he could feel the icy chill as their incorporeal bodies passed through his, and each time he felt the sensation he felt progressively weaker. He knew then that the spirits did not want him dead, they wanted him weak. They wanted to capture him.

He did not know how far he had gone when his legs buckled beneath a swarm of the black figures. His head became light and he closed his eyes, he felt a scream in his throat but could not hear it over the whooshing of the bodies. He felt tired then, his body grew heavy, and in a final act of desperation he crossed his arms over his face.

He felt a sudden warmth and calm and while he was certain that the spirits had not left he understood that they were no longer passing through his body. Then he felt sudden comfortable weight on his shoulders and his arms and as the armor continued to assemble around him he slowly realized what was happening.

When he opened his eyes in the midst of the transformation the world was completely dark, as if all the light of the world had burned out. He could see the vague forms of spirits surging above him, apparently frightened enough by the appearance of the armor to stay well away. And while Jun felt no reassurance by the presence of the armor he was altogether thankful for it. Likely that he would have been captured if it had not come.

At length the transformation was complete and Jun stood upright and watched awestruck as the city lights slowly raised. Then, without so much as surveying himself, he bolted off once more.

Ж

When the five troopers arrived in Toyama they understood the severity of the consequences of leaving Jun alone. No sooner had Seiji arrived at Nasté's house when the oily fog began to form over the city. It was as though the enemy was waiting for one of them to be alone.

They wasted no time in mobilizing, filled with hopes of heroism, but as soon as they reached the city proper they understood that there was no chance to save it. The place was in complete ruin, fires burned in almost every building and most structures had already been reduced to piles of smoldering debris. The decision was made to find Jun as quickly as possible, abandon the city as lost, and regroup at Nasté's.

Byakuen led the way into the chaos, initially directing the group into a dense residential district where they split into teams to search the razed houses. Byakuen disappeared then and did not return for a long while, but when it did it issued a long roar and waited expectantly for the troopers to collect. When the five gathered, Byakuen took off once more, heading downtown.

There was woefully little fighting to be had for the warriors as they ran. Occasionally the black figures would dart from the sky only to be expertly deflected back into the night. Only once during their flight were they faced with any serious offense when a group of some two dozen of the figures crashed to the ground and stood as corporeal beings in a humanoid form.

The spirits were as shadows, with definite form but without distinct features, and they were weaponless and armorless. When they lashed out to fight their arms extended in long arcs and demolished anything that they contacted. They rushed at the warriors in waves, three to one, and when they were cut down they disintegrated into fine particles of black dust. At the end of it all the air was thick with the mist of dissipated spirits.

When the warriors entered the metropolitan district Seiji rushed away from the group and toward the clinic, Toma close on his heels. In the meanwhile Ryo, Shin, and Shu searched buildings and alleys for any sign of their missing companion. After a while they heard Byakuen roar once more, though it seemed as if the tiger was far away, and the five rushed toward the sound.

Ryo was the first to meet the tiger near the edge of the city and he could clearly see the edge of the mist as it spread. He knelt beside Byakuen and placed his hand atop its head, then peered into the fog and waited for the other troopers to arrive.

The shadow appeared suddenly in the haze and Ryo was startled by its form. Against the backdrop of flame and fog it appeared a dark silhouette, a human shape. Above both shoulders raised an arc of pointed metal that stretched a foot high and peeked out again at the hips and Ryo was certain that he was facing a deadly winged demon. But as it approached Byakuen roared loud and then lay down and Ryo caught his breath as the shadow stopped and stared at him, wide eyed and clearly afraid.

"Jun?" Ryo cried and Jun did not respond.

Ryo remained very quiet, watching the young man as intently as Jun watched him, and he grew nervous at the prolonged silence. He could not see Jun's face, only his eyes as they bore into him, and could read no outward expression at all. Jun stood as still as stone, his hands clenched in tight fists at his side, and at last he finally lowered his head and stared defeated at the ground.

When the others arrived at the scene one by one they too stopped to stare at Jun as he stood there, and each time they shot Ryo an expression of confusion. They were all completely uncertain how to react to Jun's body language. Jun had seemed so confident before yet now he stood with a resigned and inferior posture, would not look up from the ground, and seemed unaware that the others had surrounded him. Ryo wondered if Jun was even conscious, wondered if he knew that he had been armed and armored at all.

"Jun," Ryo said again and stepped forward tentatively. He shot a glance at the other four troopers as he did and each gave him a nod of approval. "Are you all right? What happened here?"

"Stay away from me," Jun said quietly and Ryo stopped mid step. His voice was quiet and could scarcely be heard above the din of the dying city and Ryo was confused.

"You need to come home with us, it isn't safe here," Ryo continued and stepped forward again as if he were approaching a wild and wounded animal. He worried that Jun would lash out and without proper knowledge of the armor Jun wore Ryo could not be certain of what havoc it could wreak if its power was unwittingly released.

"Stay away!" Jun screamed and his voice broke. His shoulders trembled under the weight of the armor and Ryo was close enough now to see him clearly.

Jun's face and hands were stained with blood though whether it was his own or someone else's was unclear. He did not appear wounded and his expression was blank and lifeless. The only indication that he felt anything at all was the tears streaming down his face.

"I need you to calm down," Ryo said and looked past Jun to Shin who stood directly behind Jun. Ryo motioned for Shin to come close, to restrain Jun if necessary, and Shin inched in. "We're going to take you back to Nasté's so that we can figure out what is going on here. We just want to help you."

Jun remained silent, staring at the ground.

Ryo motioned then for Shu and Seiji to come closer. Eventually Shin, Shu, and Seiji were all near enough that they could reach out and touch Jun if they were so inclined, and Ryo took another step forward.

Jun looked at Ryo then with eyes as wide as saucers and it seemed to the wildfire that the frightened young man was about to strike out at him. Tripped by the sudden motion, Shin grasped Jun from behind, holding his trembling shoulders while staying as clear as he could of the massive blades on his back, Shu grabbed and held Jun's left arm, and Seiji grabbed and held the right arm. And as if the collective touch had triggered some massive shutdown Jun collapsed on the spot, crumpled to the ground, and lay quite still surrounded by his worried and quite confused companions.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 14:

Seiji paced impatiently around the office while the remaining troopers and Nasté crowded around her monitor. They had argued for a long time amongst themselves as to why Jun had reacted so defensively to their help, what the sudden appearance of the armor meant, and why he had collapsed so completely, weakened beyond any explanation.

Toma attributed it all to nerves and adrenaline and while he remained dismissive and resentful about the whole situation none of the others could logically refute his argument. Jun was conscious now after all, though he presently rested halfway across the house in the sitting room, his body draped in a thick blanket and periodically clutching a cup of tea that had long since gone cold. Any time any of the five went to check on him they backed away without so much as a word, the boy had yet to stop trembling and they all feared the expected explosive reaction to sympathy.

So now they gathered and discussed the armor as they had seen it, though there was little for anyone to say. The armor was so minimal that it seemed he was wearing scarcely more than his under gear and the city had been so dark that any distinct details were obscured in the black. The only thing that the five could agree on were the blades, those massive arced swords that fastened to Jun's back as steel wings of death and shined eerily in the firelight that burned in the city streets.

"They were glaives," Seiji said smartly as he continued to walk. "Double bladed war glaives, though I've never seen or handled anything of the kind. Most of the time those kinds of weapons are crafted in alternating curves, not as a semicircular arc."

The others regarded Seiji with interest. He had said little since they returned and the troopers assumed that he felt guilty for leaving Jun on his own in Toyama. But now it seemed that Seiji was far more interested in Jun's weaponry than his well-being and the change in motivation was jarring.

"So what?" said Ryo.

"His armor isn't the same as ours. Couple those massive blades with the miniscule armor he wore and it's absolutely clear that there is nothing defensive about his gear at all," Seiji said emphatically and stopped his pacing. He turned and glanced at each of the troopers with intensity. "Let's face it, that armor was nothing more than glorified under gear, the only extra coverage it provided was for the shoulders and thighs, and even that was minimal at best. That armor is made for offense and offense only, if he takes a serious hit he's done for."

"Are you trying to get at something?" Shin said.

Seiji shrugged and leaned against the wall. "I'm curious as to the nature of his armor's special abilities. I would assume it to be a strong offensive move, a ballistic attack just as the rest of ours, but the possibility remains that it could be a defensive maneuver in case of emergencies," he said and paused to think. "I don't think that that would be unreasonable."

Nasté looked up curiously from her computer and rested her chin on her hand. "So why would the armor lack coverage?"

Seiji shrugged again. "My guess is that those glaives require a lot of mobility to wield properly. Bulky armor like ours doesn't allow for great range of motion, but our under gear does. That would explain the lack of plate and the lack of helmet; sometimes the helms can obscure vision, which would prove absolutely devastating without extra protection of the body."

When Seiji stopped talking the room fell quiet. Everyone wore a tense expression and looked to the others, waiting for someone to make a suggestion. They all had seen the armor plainly and yet they still did not know its nature, did not know its element, and did not know its power. They did not know what happened to Jun before they found him. What they did know was that the only way to come to any answer was to ask questions.

"We can't just sit here," said Shin after a while. "And if none of us wants to go talk to him by ourselves then maybe we ought to go talk to him together."

"He won't buy it," Ryo replied.

Shin shrugged and sighed, then walked toward the office exit. "At this point he doesn't have a choice."

Before long the troopers found themselves in awkward silence in the sitting room. Having expected Jun to demand they leave immediately, or at least cast an angry glare at each of them, they were surprised by his quiet even as they sat down with clear intentions to talk. Instead of putting on his offensive front Jun looked at each of them desperately then stared pathetically at the floor. It had only been a few hours since their return from Toyama so the troopers attributed his quiet to the shock of the devastation.

Shin and Shu sat on the sofa opposite Jun and offered him empathetic expressions while Ryo and Seiji sat stone faced in a pair of arm chairs. Toma, apparently unwilling to participate in the intervention, leaned casually against the wall near the door. He felt that the whole endeavor was pointless; Toma already knew how Jun would react. He had experienced that reaction personally and did not much care to repeat it.

Shin cleared his throat and looked to the others or reassurance. He had been designated as the official representative for the troopers when dealing with Jun, and it was not a position he held with pride or comfort. He opened his mouth to begin his half prepared speech but Jun cut him off before he could produce a sound.

"You never should have brought me here," Jun said and adjusted the blanket around his shoulders. He spoke very quietly, more to hide the waver in his voice than anything else, and never looked up from the floor. "I don't know which of you made the call but you should have left me there."

"No one made any call," said Ryo. "We weren't going to abandon you."

"Then you were collectively mistaken," Jun replied quickly and this time his voice was strong and angry. "You don't understand what you're doing, you don't understand the kind of danger you're putting yourselves in by keeping me around."

The troopers exchanged worried looks. They had seen the destruction of Toyama but still knew nothing of Jun's personal losses. They did not know that he blamed himself for all of it, did not know how guilty he felt even as he sat among them.

"If anyone made a mistake it was me," Seiji said after a moment. "It was wrong for me to leave you by yourself. You should never have had to handle that mess on your own."

"I don't need your help," Jun snapped.

"You don't have a choice," Shin replied softly. "You're as much a part of this team as any of us and, like Ryo said, we aren't going to abandon you."

Jun stood suddenly and glared at Shin so angrily that Shin looked away submissively. The blanket slipped from his shoulders as he gestured and spoke emphatically. "You don't get it do you?" He yelled. "None of you idiots get it. If I stay here you're all going to die. Everyone I know dies. Everyone I care about dies. And none of them die naturally, none of them die peacefully. It's all blood and guts and gore and pain, I'm not going to take it anymore."

"Sit down, Jun," said Shu.

"No, I'm not sitting down. I'm not going to sit here and pretend like I belong here, that any of us are safer with me here," Jun replied and his voice trembled with panic and rage. He felt as though his throat were swelling shut, as if the words would not come out if he did not yell. "I've gone along with this stupid game long enough, I've dealt with your questions and your overbearing supervision and I put on your stupid armor. But if accepting this means that I have to watch all of you die then I'm done with it, I'm done with you."

"But Kayura said that…" Shin began meekly.

"Damn Kayura," Jun roared and his voice broke. "Damn her and all of you to hell! I don't need you to save me. Damn this stupid armor, damn it all! I don't care if I live or die but I'm not going to sit here and watch the rest of you get killed because of me. I'm not worth that kind of sacrifice."

Jun spoke with such finality that when he turned to leave the room no one stood to stop him. Instead they sat with their eyes on the ground, a group of children sentenced to time out, unmoving and speechless and afraid. They had expected a reaction; they had expected Jun to push them away, but for Jun to speak so honestly and with such complete self-depreciation was completely unexpected. Everything that the troopers believed they knew about the young man was called into question. The cocky, confident face he had put on before seemed a brittle mask meant to obscure years of self-doubt and guilt.

It seemed that the only genuine thing about Jun was his ability to turn off his emotions like the flipping of a switch. He walked to the door with the same stoic and unfeeling expression that he always wore. It was as if nothing had happened at all.

But then Toma stepped forward as Jun passed by, reached out, and placed a firm hand on his shoulder. Jun stopped dead in mid-stride.

"Nothing that's happened is your fault," Toma said quietly enough that only Jun could hear. He knew that the others gaped at him and were thoroughly surprised by his actions. But even Toma felt pity for Jun at that moment, they all did, and he realized that he never would have held a grudge if he had known Jun's true motivation for keeping the troopers at arm's length.

It became clear to Toma in that moment that Jun struggled hard to keep him away. The two had spent so much time together in years past, bonding through hours of study and science projects that their relationship had grown strong. Jun must have felt vulnerable around him, Toma thought, and such vulnerability showed a weakness that Jun was simply unwilling to present.

He felt Jun shudder and Toma sighed. He knew that he had hit a soft spot. "None of it is your fault," he repeated.

And then Jun whirled about, too fast for empathetic Toma to react, and planted a solid right hook straight on the side of Toma's head, laying the tenku out flat and unconscious on the floor. Then, without a word, he turned and ran from the house.

The wooded area behind Nasté's home had scarcely changed since Jun had last played there during Arago's invasion. If anything it seemed to have become smaller, mostly because Jun had grown larger, and he remembered the place as well as his own back yard.

He ran on, deep into the thick trees, and with each step the rage he felt boiling in his gut morphed into self-loathing and embarrassment. The others knew exactly how he felt now; there could be no more hiding behind the fake identity that he had constructed during his brief period of anonymity. Kayura had called Jun's daring rescue an opportunity for reinvention and Jun had tried desperately to become someone new, someone that he could present with swelling pride.

And he had done it for a time, he had been the hero. He was the one that the others looked to for leadership and strategy; he had been the foundation for the troopers when his identity was unknown. And he kept up the charade for days after they found out who he was. The troopers believed fully that Jun was ambivalent, strong, and more than capable of caring for himself in the most dangerous situations.

But then he began to slip, to let glimpses of his fragile soul shine through the black. It started when he and Toma first exchanged blows and Jun's thick outer shell continued to flake away a little more every day thereafter.

All the same Jun was surprised that he had kept up the act for so long. He could scarcely believe that he had been so invested in being a hard ass that it took witnessing mass murder and the ravaging of his home to pull him back to reality. Maybe it was the case that the warrior Jun pretended to be actually existed somewhere inside of him. He wished desperately that he could find it again; he wished that he could strike a balance between it and the meek young man that he knew he was.

After a while Jun broke through the forest's edge and came to an abrupt halt. He doubled over, his hands on his knees, and breathed greedily the cold air as it blew over him. Standing before the small pond behind Nasté's home the air seemed especially chill and moist as he sat down against a thick tree trunk and stared at the water. Then he produced the yoroi ball from the pocket of his sweater. It glowed a soft black light and the character of his virtue was suspended in its core.

"Armor of shadow," he grumbled and rolled the orb around in his palm. "What the hell does that even mean?"

He sighed and looked again at the pond. It seemed beautiful in the dead of night, clear and blue and reflective of the night, and he wondered why he had never stopped to admire it before. Probably because as a child he would have been well asleep by this time or because he was too busy pretending to be a hero. He remembered how blissful his childhood had been back then when he was ignorant of the responsibilities of bearing armor and the danger it posed to everyone around.

"You know it's dangerous to be off by yourself."

Jun looked up to see Shu walking casually toward him. He turned his palm over, hiding the yoroi ball in his hand, pulled his knees to his chest, and rested his arms upon them. Then he looked at his shoes.

Shu was undaunted by Jun's lack of response. He had been sent out for protective purposes only, not to talk, and so he was comfortable with the quiet. He sat on the ground beside Jun and joined him in admiration of their respective footwear until the silence became awkward.

"I'm not here to punish you," said Shu after a while. "The others were busy with Toma and I decided that you could probably use the company. You didn't have to hit him so hard."

"I warned him," Jun said flatly.

"Fair enough."

Jun sighed heavily and laid his head on his arms, regarding Shu curiously. Then he looked back at the water, ashamed, and spoke quietly. "You know, when I was a kid I would have done anything to be a part of what you all were doing. Now that I am, I don't want anything to do with it."

Shu shrugged. "We've all been there before."

"No, you haven't," Jun replied. "It's not the same."

Shu regarded Jun curiously but said nothing and the two fell into silence once again. They sat for a long time in the quiet, staring at the ground, unsure what to say to each other.

"It's the armor of shadow," Jun said suddenly and Shu perked up attentively. "And there was a shadow the day my parents died. A big sweeping shadow. I think that it was that Mai character."

"Oh?" Said Shu, surprised by the sudden speech. He did not expect Jun to elaborate.

"We were driving," Jun explained and it seemed as if he was struggling to remember. "I had a dream about it, anyway, and we were driving out from Shinjuku to the summer home. And my parents were arguing about something, I don't recall what, and then this shadow came rolling down from Fuji. It moved faster than I've ever seen something move before, and then it hit us." He paused and shook his head. "I don't remember much after that. The doctors said that I was found in the trunk of the car, it must've been something to see."

Shu stayed silent and tried to hide his shock. But Jun did not look at him and instead stared at the water, and if he felt any emotion about the story he did not show it. He fumbled with the yoroi ball, still hidden in his palm, and looked thoughtful.

"She called me the harbinger of death, whatever the hell that means," Jun continued. "Then I passed out."

"She?"

Jun shrugged again. "Like is aid, my best guess is that it was Mai," he said and looked at Shu with a serious expression and he could tell that Shu was trying to take the news in stride. "Given how often she's tried to kill me lately it only makes sense. But what I don't understand is the motivation behind it all. Why would she have left me alone for what, five years between then and now? It doesn't make sense."

"They want our armors. Maybe she attacked you because she thought you already had it back then, but when she found out you didn't she left you alone. If it was quiet until you were summoned to arms then I assume that the armor was the only motivation."

Jun looked at the water again and seemed completely dejected. "Then why does she claim to be my sister."

For a third time the two fell into silence and now it lingered for a long time. Shu remained confused and uncertain how to tread around the difficult subjects and Jun was too caught up in his own thoughts to really care. He realized only after he stopped talking that he had disclosed more to Shu than he had ever truly wanted and yet he felt no concern for it. He didn't care anymore; he just wanted to know what was going on.

They could not have said how much time had passed when the sky flashed bright to the east and Jun's yoroi ball flared in his palm, startling him so severely that he dropped it to the ground where it continued to glow brightly. Shu jumped to his feet and peered into the distance.

"That was at Nasté's," he whispered and turned his gaze to Jun. "We have to go, something is wrong."

Jun retrieved got to his feet and bent to retrieve his orb, and by the time he stood back up Shu was already outfitted in his under gear. Shu motioned for Jun to do the same and Jun simply stood there, staring dumbly at Shu as if he had no idea what Shu was talking about.

"Suit up, Jun," Shu said urgently. "This isn't the time to be timid."

Jun swallowed hard and summoned his under gear through the yoroi ball and felt immediately uncomfortable. But as soon as the under gear had formed around him Shu took off and Jun had no choice but to follow. The two darted through the trees and watched as more white flashes exploded in the sky above Nasté's home.

They had gone no more than a kilometer when a group of black figures materialized around them. They were the same featureless humanoid forms that had rampaged through Toyama and their forms seemed to spring up from nothing in massive numbers. They encircled the two warriors before they even knew what had happened.

Shu called his armor on instinct and assumed a defensive posture. And when Jun continued to stand dumbfounded beside him he yelled, perhaps more forcefully than he had meant. "Jun!"

"I don't know how!"

"Yes you do!"

Jun wanted to argue that he really did not know how he had summoned the armor in Toyama; that it had simply come to him and that he did not call it at all. But the figures charged forward and forced Shu into immediate action. Shu moved precisely, working hard to protect both Jun and himself from the onslaught. He swung his bo and batted the figures away as soon as they came within range, but he never had enough time to summon his sure kill. Shu was on the defensive with no way to recover and the number of opponents seemed to grow every moment.

Jun watched in a panic and despite his best efforts he could not determine how to summon his armor. He did not know if it responded to words or feelings or if there was some special phrase he had to utter. And as he continued to watch Shu struggle to protect him he felt more and more afraid. There was no way that Shu could handle all of it alone.

"Kinasai!" Jun yelled suddenly, desperately.

The sound of fighting stopped and the world went black. The armor assembled around Jun quickly, as if responding to the desperation in his voice, and as soon as the transformation was complete Jun felt again a sense of comfort and warmth in his body and his mind felt at ease. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply.

When Jun opened his eyes Shu was staring at him wide eyed and their attackers stood at a significant distance, seeming to stare as well despite their lack of discernable eyes. Jun reached immediately behind his back, an act of instinct, and retrieved the massive glaives from their seat on his back. He regarded the blades uncertainly and assumed what he thought was a defensive stance. Even if he had no idea how to utilize the weapons he was not going to stand around and watch Shu be overwhelmed.

Shu and Jun both sprang into action then and the black figures fell to the defensive. While Shu swung his bo deliberately, dispatching every enemy he met with ease, Jun swung his blades in wild imprecise arcs. He did not connect with many enemies though when he did hit the mark he often felled multiple beings with one blow, showering the area with thick black mist.

Despite their best efforts the two warriors continued to be overwhelmed by the figures, which soon were on the offensive again. Every time one of the spirits was defeated more materialized in its place, and so Shu and Jun were left with no choice but to fight their way through the ring and run.

"You have no idea what you're doing, do you?" Shu cried as they fled, still swinging at enemies as they closed in around them.

"It's not obvious, is it?" Jun replied sarcastically and sliced out with his left arm, clearing the path ahead easily.

Shu stopped suddenly and whirled about, raising his bo to summon the rock crusher. Jun stood at Shu's back and effectively kept the figures at bay while Shu's attack materialized. Jun continued slicing at waves of enemies as they charged from all sides, it was all he could do to make certain that Shu maintained the concentration required to unleash the power of his armor. Shu's sure kill devastated the enemies behind them.

And as Jun continued to dispose of the figures his mind raced with fear. The weapons he wielded were large and felt clumsy in his hands, and while he was certain that they could be devastating if handled properly he also was certain that was not using them correctly. So he played defensively, trying desperately to parry and deflect the abstract weapons of the figures and he was, for the most part, successful in his effort though that effort required intense concentration.

He only became aware of his tunnel vision when he felt Shu's hand plant firmly between his shoulder blades, pushing him along down the path at a swift pace. Jun ran on obediently and eventually Shu's hand dropped as another massive wave of figures surged toward them from the dark of the forest.

"We're never going to get to the house at this rate," Shu cried above the noise of battle, and as if on cue the sky lit up above Nasté's home once more, brighter and whiter than it had ever before. The light lingered for a while before fading slowly into the night, and at last a pillar of yellow light shot up straight into the sky.

"What the hell is going on?" Jun yelled as he sliced another two spirits into black mist. He could barely talk above the din, could barely concentrate enough to force the words out.

If the two had been overwhelmed before then they were more than outnumbered now. There had to be hundreds of the figures surrounding them, a sea of black at high tide, and the warriors were keenly aware of their disadvantage. Jun was in a full blown panic by then, he wanted to ask Shu what he thought would happen to them if they would be captured, killed, or something worse. And as he turned to regard Shu he watched horrified as the kongo was overwhelmed by a surge of twenty or more. Valiantly as Shu may have fought he was no match for such a host and he fell first to a knee, then fell to the ground where he lay very still and Jun was uncertain if he even remained conscious.

Jun turned back to the fight with his strength bolstered as much by sheer panic as by the desire to protect Shu as Shu had protected him so many times before. He gave up on defense, did not try to parry or dodge or deflect the blows of the enemies as they came and focused entirely on cutting as many of them down as he could. He whirled and twisted with arms spread wide, working the glaives with the grace of a fan dancer and as much lethality as the most skilled swordsman, and each twist and slash of the great arced blades cut down more enemies than they ever had before.

As he worked his way closer to Shu, Jun wished frantically that he wasn't alone, that he had some help, any help at all, in fending off the onslaught. His head grew light, though whether it was from exertion or adrenaline he could not be certain, and he lost himself in the fight, dancing deadly circles around Shu's fallen form.

He did not know that Shu remained at the edge of consciousness, weak and unable to regain his footing. He did not see that Shu raised his head briefly from the ground to watch Jun at work, did not see Shu's expression of astonishment as he played spectator to the sudden unleashing of the true power of the shadow armor. So complete was Jun's concentration that he could not see past his tunnel vision, he did not realize that another form had materialized in the midst of the fight and was presently assisting him in fighting off the throng.

If Jun had seen it he would have been dumbstruck. It seemed of the same character as the black spirits that assailed him though its darkness was not absolute as theirs, it appeared instead as a photo darkened in such a way that any discerning features were obscured, but it was not featureless. It wore armor identical to Jun's, swung weapons identical to Jun's, and moved in ways similar to the way that Jun was presently moving. It was as though a mirror image of the young warrior had appeared from nowhere and was doing as effective a job in dispatching the dark spirits as Jun was himself.

The fight continued for a long while and Jun felt weaker by the moment. Yet despite the growing fatigue it seemed that the spirits were backing off. He whirled about once more and sliced a group of the figures in half, and as they exploded into the telltale black mist he stopped for a heartbeat, facing the shadow of himself as it fought back the demons across the way. He stared dumbly at it and in that moment he realized that it had to be the cause of his fatigue, had to be the cause of his difficulty concentrating, it had to be the underlying power of his armor though he had no idea how he had summoned it.

And very suddenly the black figures stopped fighting even as Jun watched them, stood at attention and offered no retaliation as the shadow of Jun's armor continued hacking them down. Jun turned about and came face to face with Mai, who stood before him watching with perverse pleasure as his shadow continued to ravage her army.

"I see you've figured it out," she said smoothly. "Let it go, brother, it will do you no good now."

Jun leveled his right glaive at Mai and held the left defensively at his side. "What did you do with the others?"

"I took them. And I'll be taking your companion of the stone as well," she said, and as she looked to Shu's motionless body the same orange sphere that had once imprisoned him materialized around him once more.

In that moment Jun willed his strength back to him, and from behind his shadow dissipated and returned to the armor proper, and he lunged forward toward Mai in a valiant if futile attempt to stop her. He swung his glaives clumsily and she sidestepped the attack with ease, planting a well-aimed blow at the base of Jun's skull. He staggered forward, dizzy, and took a knee. Though he knew she had connected only with her hand it felt as if he had been struck with an iron pipe.

"You cannot resist me," she said. "We will have all of you, my master will wield your armor and you will join the rest of us where you belong."

Jun felt her inch toward him and felt her cold hand as it grasped the back of his neck. Her hand was frigid and clammy, the touch of death, and as she squeezed the darkness of unconsciousness began to close in on him. The glaives fell from his hands though he had not meant to drop them and he could summon no strength to fight back. Instead he glanced once more at Shu and felt utterly pathetic as he watched the orange sphere ascend and join with the bright yellow pillar that continued to burn from Nasté's house. Then he lowered his head in defeat.

Mai bent down so close that he could feel her lips brush against his ear and he felt bile in his stomach as she spoke. "You see, my friend, it is futile."

With deceptive strength Mai forced Jun to the ground, smothering him in the grass, and he closed his eyes tight as the darkness enveloped him fully. All sensation left him until the only thing he felt was weakness, an undeniable desire to sleep. And then he relented.

As Jun fell into unconsciousness he thought he heard Byakuen whining in the distance.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 15

When Jun woke the sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon and as he peered through the boughs of the trees it seemed as though the sky was on fire. The clouds reflected a brilliant red as they floated slowly by and Jun wished that he could lay there forever. He felt calm unlike anything he had ever felt before and did not care that his stillness was a product of the beating he had taken several hours prior.

It was not that he had forgotten the events of that night; he remembered it all quite vividly. Instead it was guilt and pain that kept him laying on the ground staring blankly at the sky. Most of his body was numb and the few parts that weren't ached so intensely that he wished that they were. His head throbbed and he could feel his heartbeat thumping fast in his ears. It felt like a hangover, a bad flu, minus the vomiting. He felt as he had felt during his daring rescue those weeks before, the same sensations rolled in waves from his head to his toes, the same emotions, the same sense of uncertainty, except this time his attempt at heroism had ended in complete ruin.

Shu's capture looped in his mind and he reckoned that the other four troopers had not fared much better. If a hundred shadows had assailed him and Shu there could have been a thousand swarming Nasté's house. He did not feel like a hero then, did not feel confident or cocky or remotely sure of his place in the world.

Jun had been helpless even after he had donned his armor; he flailed about uselessly until well after it was too late to save anyone. He wished that he could go back and take Seiji up on his backhanded offer for training, wished that he hadn't acted so proud and stubborn in the face of honest help that he desperately needed. But now it was too late and he was facing the prospect of another daring rescue alone. And being alone didn't bother him. What bothered him now was that he lacked the confidence that his prior anonymity afforded him.

Finally, he sat up and looked about and the whole forest seemed as if nothing had ever happened. There was no evidence of battle except for the bent grass on the spot where Jun had fallen. There was no blood, no marks of blades connected with trees, no burning, no mass destruction of any kind at all. This surprised him more than the fact that he had even waked there. He had expected devastation similar to Toyama, especially considering the sheer number of combatants on the field.

A sense of foreboding swelled in Jun's stomach and he got to his feet with urgency. As he rushed off toward Nasté's house he wondered exactly what had happened in the forest, why the place was left largely untouched, and why he had not been captured. It made no sense that Mai would so easily defeat him only to leave him free.

Not ten minutes had passed when Jun burst through the mansion's rear door and his heart dropped like a stone to his stomach. If the forest had escaped the attack then the house had taken the brunt of the devastation. The whole place was in shambles with furniture toppled and thrown about; a couch lay propped clumsily beside the door and the walls were sliced and cracked where weapons of various types had connected. It took much effort to wade through the destruction; every few steps Jun had to move some large obstacle from his path or climb clumsily over a pile of debris.

The place was made more uncomfortable by the silence and the darkness. Most of the windows were broken or cracked and all of them were barricaded with large pieces of furniture, every table and chair and sofa in the house had been displaced in what Jun assumed was an attempt to seal out the spirits. The place was creepily quiet except for the metallic echoes of Jun's under gear as he shuffled around. He could not help but grow more afraid as he walked. It felt as though a live fish were flopping about in his stomach.

As he made his way toward the sitting room Jun would occasionally spot a drop of blood on the carpet or a small splatter on a wall and the deeper into the house he walked the more he honestly expected to stumble across a corpse. There were no signs of life at all.

After exploring the home's lower levels with no results he made his way cautiously to the staircase adjacent to the sitting room. A large section of the way was smashed and had collapsed entirely to the floor below. One of the armchairs from the sitting room rested precariously against the remaining bannister and another blocked the way at the top, wedged tight between the railings. Jun picked his way up the unstable path cautiously, tested each of the wooden stairs before laying his full weight on them, stepped over the first chair and climbed carefully over the second, then wound his way around and toward the bedrooms.

The upper level of the house was utterly destroyed. The bannister hung loose from its foundation and the walls were sliced and cracked from the impact of swords and bodies. Blood splatters stained the floors and ceiling all over. And as Jun picked his way down the hall the evidence of battle increased and he knew that the warriors had been cornered. Every door was either open or hanging from its hinges with the exception of Nasté's bedroom door at the end of the long corridor, though it did not make it through unscathed. Rather, several tight clusters of holes perforated the wood in such a way that Jun could peer through.

He leaned against the door, pressing his eye to one of the holes, and could see nothing but black. So he moved to another cluster and still no light came through. He assumed that the door had been barricaded as all the others and allowed himself to hope briefly that the others had made it through safely sealed in the room.

"Nasté," he called quietly. "Nasté, let me in."

No answer came and Jun grew afraid. He began pushing against the door, butting against it with his shoulder and yet it would not give way. Whatever held the door was stuck fast and there seemed to be no way for Jun to break through.

"Nasté!" he yelled. "Are you okay?"

Jun pounded again on the door and this time there came a definite response though it was not remotely what he had expected. From behind the door came a sharp twang and then, quite suddenly, a golden arrow sliced through the door and buried itself to its fletching in the opposite wall. And before Jun could even think to react there came another four arrows in rapid succession, each piercing the door in a tight cluster and sticking in the wall one after the other.

"Toma!" Jun cried, startled by the sudden barrage but excited that one of the warriors had escaped the attack unharmed. "It's Jun, let me in."

There came a shuffle from inside the room, something large scraped against the door and then fell to the ground with a loud wooden crash. Then Toma swung the door open wide.

The punch came almost immediately after the door opened and Toma swung so hard and so fast that Jun had no time to dodge. He felt the contact, made all the more painful by the tenku's armored glove, and he stumbled back into the wall, leaning dazed and rubbing at his jaw with his bloody hand.

Only then did it strike Jun that he was indeed bleeding, that the stuff flowed freely from a wide, numb slice on his right shoulder that had not been there when he woke in the forest. He gaped at the wound and then at Toma, who stood looking so enraged that Jun was almost too afraid to speak.

"The punch I deserved," Jun said flatly. "But you shot me? Seriously?"

"What were you thinking, running off by yourself?" Toma yelled and stepped toward Jun menacingly. "Whose side are you on, anyway? Had you not separated the five of us Ryo could have brought out the Kikoutei. But Shu went after you and now for all I know they could be dead. This whole stupid debacle could have been over if it wasn't for your sorry, self-pitying attitude!"

Jun did not know how to reply so he stayed quiet for a long while, watching closely until Toma's expression softened. "Is Nasté all right?" he asked when he finally gained enough courage to speak.

Toma shook his head, finished with his angry outburst. "She's been out for a long time, was sliced up badly and passed out. I retreated back here to protect her."

"Can I take a look?"

Toma stepped aside with a long and defeated sigh. "Medics do more good during the fight than they do after everyone is hurt or captured."

Jun ignored Toma's biting sarcasm and pushed roughly past him. Clearly they were never going to get along. "Medics do more good when they're not dealing with friendly fire," he said and glanced at his bloody shoulder once more.

"Watch the attitude or I'll shoot you again," Toma replied and Jun knew that he was serious.

Ж

Ryo woke laying on the cold stone floor of a large torch lit chamber. He did not recall how he had arrived in this place, did not know where or what this place was, and knew only that his body ached and his shoulders burned as if they had been wrenched from their sockets. His hands were bound with a tight cord behind his back, his legs were bound at his ankles, and around him lay Shu and Shin and Seiji, all in a similar state of bondage and all utterly unmoving.

As he peered around the room he saw a line of braziers paired in such a way that they created an aisle of flickering firelight on the floor along which ran a simple black rug. At one end of this aisle sat a large chair, unadorned and constructed of solid black rock, and at the other end opened a set of double doors though what lay beyond Ryo could not see.

In the center of the aisle kneeled a dark and cloaked figure that stared at the floor with the posture of a slave in for punishment. And after a while two more similarly cloaked figures joined the first, approached it, and stood around it as if they were taunting it. Then the two figures moved to flank the first and kneeled, assuming the same position with their eyes locked on the floor.

Ryo rolled carefully to gain a better, more comfortable view of the activity and the moment he moved all three of the figures snapped their gazes toward him. He was certain that they could not have seen him move, he was laying in such a way that their backs were to him, but it was clear that they still somehow knew. When he felt their eyes on him he stopped moving immediately and lay very still with his eyes closed, pretending to be unconscious or asleep. After a while he felt somewhat at ease and he opened his eyes just enough to see that the figures had turned back around.

As he continued to open his eyes he could make out the form of a man seated confidently on the chair at the head of the aisle. And though the figure appeared as a silhouette against the dimly lit throne Ryo could see clearly his glowing red eyes and his fingers tapping impatiently against the arm of the chair.

The moment that this intimidating figure appeared, and he had indeed seemed to materialize from nothing, the three kneeling figures changed dramatically in their posture as though they were frightened by the mere presence of the man. They shifted uncomfortably in their places and Ryo was certain that he caught the two outermost shadows casting sidelong glances at each other.

At last the seated figure spoke and as his voice boomed through the room a line of bright torches flared to life from a small ledge near the ceiling which wound around the perimeter of the room, illuminating him, the chamber, and his three lackeys clearly.

"You have failed me again, Mai," the figure hissed.

The center figure shifted slightly and Ryo knew at once that this was her. She said nothing in reply.

"Yes, you brought me four of the warriors," continued the man, his red eyes beaming bright and angry as fire, "but these four are worthless to me without the fifth, the tenku, and the sixth was by far the most important. I would rather you had brought me the shadow than these fools! What have you to say for yourself?"

"I am sorry, my lord," she said quietly and kept her eyes on the floor.

"You will look at me when I address you," said the figure with finality and Mai immediately pulled back her hood. She stared at him with an expression of horror.

Ryo was startled by Mai's appearance then. Despite Seiji's description of her she seemed as a girl in her teenage years with long black hair tucked behind her pale ears. When she spoke she did so quietly and with calculation and Ryo found the similarity to Jun's speech to be more than uncanny.

"I had the shadow beaten," Mai argued. "I was collecting him when the tiger came at me."

"Silence," roared the man. "I don't care about the damned cat and I do not need your petty excuses! You failed me once in the temple and wasted the work of your fellows. Now you fail me again, even with legions of spirits at your command!"

"I apologize, lord," Mai repeated and dropped into a low bow, her forehead pressed hard against the ground.

"Your groveling will do you no good," said the man quietly. "You will guard these four and I will send my right hand men to do the important work."

The two figures flanking Mai stood together and bowed low. "Thank you, lord," they said together and when the man waved them away they turned and made a quick exit.

When Mai was the only one left, still groveling on the floor, the silhouetted man stood and walked slowly down the aisle and into the light. His stride was so smooth that it appeared as if he floated along the floor, and as the firelight flickered against his dark face Ryo was startled by the man's appearance so severely that he caught his breath.

The red eyes beamed from two deep and sunken slits on his face that appeared more as tiny sideways teardrops than real eye holes, and the rest of his unnaturally dark face was utterly featureless. There was no nose, not even a bump where the thing should have been, and no mouth beneath it. His skin was smooth and silken from the end of his pointed chin to the top of his quite bald head. The man looked as unreal as any figure that Ryo had ever seen, from his physical features down to his black robes and shoes, he looked as a shadow sprung from the ground imbued with malice and anger and volition.

"Why do you continue to fail?" Purred the man smoothly as he circled Mai's bowed figure. "After all I've given you."

"I am sorry, my lord," Mai squeaked and dared not raise her head.

The man continued without pause. "A lost soul, no family among the dead, no place among the living, I gave you the chance to bring them here for both of our sakes. I wanted you to be with your loved ones," he spat, suddenly full of disgust as if the mere mention of family made the bile rise in his stomach. "And so that my armor would be vacant before the whelp realized that it chose him over me. And you failed even in that simple task against weak and helpless humans!"

The lord's face screwed up in rage and he kicked Mai fiercely to the ground, connecting solidly with her ribs. She remained quiet, folded and broken, until the assault stopped. Then she whispered another apology.

"I don't want an apology," screamed the lord, "I want an answer! Are you working with him?"

"You knew that Jun was strong at the outset," Mai cried and the man kicked her again.

"The boy is weak! Such a tentative and weak grasp he has on life and yet you cannot break it!"

"He is stronger than you credit him for," Mai pleaded. "He cares more than you think. He will not give up his life so easily to you."

The man kicked her once more, this time with finality. "There is no wonder that fate denied you your life, given your weakness. Such inadequate souls never make it to term; you would not have lasted long in life anyway." He stepped around her and walked toward the open door. "The twins will clean up your mess," he said very calmly. "Do take care of the rabble you dragged into my home."

Mai pushed herself up and resumed kneeling with as much dignity as she could muster. "Yes, my lord," she said, and then the man left.

Ж

Toma sat with his head resting on his hands, watching as Jun continued in his futile attempts to control the shadow of his armor. He had been interested at first but now, more than an hour after Jun subtly suggested that he needed some help with it, Toma felt tired and the aches in his body were distracting him from the task at hand. Even after watching awestruck as Jun dressed Nasté's many small wounds Toma had vehemently refused any treatment at all, would not let Jun so much as look at him, and he almost regretted that decision now.

Jun had nearly forgotten that Toma was even there, so intent was he on poking at his shadow. It looked much the same as it had in the night, with armor identical to Jun's and a relatively dark complexion, though in the sunlight it was clear to Jun that every feature of his had been replicated exactly on the shadow. He stared at a dimly lit version of himself and wondered what advantage such an image could afford him in a fight, if he could only control it.

The night prior the image had acted on what Jun assumed was instinct, had mirrored Jun's movements precisely and Jun put as much effort into controlling the shadow as he put into getting dressed in the morning. He wondered what could happen if he concentrated, if he willed the shadow to move, to fight, or perhaps even to speak.

To Jun's dismay, the shadow responded only to deliberate movements and even then it simply mimicked Jun's motion. On the other hand, when Jun sat idly, thinking, the shadow stood impassively, occasionally tapping its toes on the ground or rolling its shoulders as a boxer loosing up before a fight. It struck Jun as strange that the shadow would act in such a way, as if it was bored with the whole situation though Jun knew that it had no volition of its own.

"What do you think?" Jun said at last to Toma. "I can't make anything of it."

Toma shrugged, his apathy showing clearly. "Interesting as the thing is, I think it does what you do and nothing more. You move, it moves, that's really all there is to it."

Jun dropped his chin onto his palm and blew a long sigh. "But when I don't move it still moves," he argued. "There has to be something more to it."

"Have you tried not moving you and moving it instead?" Toma said and looked at Jun curiously. "The armors act on the will of their bearer, after all."

Jun looked to Toma, then back to the image and furrowed his brow. Then he thought very hard about the shadow retrieving one of the glaives from the back of the armor and hoped that perhaps the thing would respond. Instead it stared blankly at him and fidgeted, shifting its weight back and forth before looking up at the sky.

"Well, clearly you're not doing it right," Toma said.

Jun looked dejected. "Thank you," he said and closed his eyes. He thought then about how he had felt the night prior, wielding the armor and unleashing this strange shadow. He remembered vividly how it felt to wield the strange glaives and wondered whether or not he and Toma could defeat an army of black spirits without the functional use of Jun's special ability.

After a moment Jun heard Toma shift suddenly in his seat and when he opened his eyes the shadow was wielding both glaives, though it still stood uncomfortably as if it had no idea what to do with the huge blades.

"Well," Jun said half amused. "This might get interesting."


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 16

Toma woke without remembering when he had fallen asleep, releasing his under gear, or getting into the comfortable bed that he now lay in. He did not even recall righting a bed to begin with, last he knew they were overturned or demolished, laying all about the upper level of the house. Last he remembered he was outside with Jun, watching him experiment with his armor. Jun had had a breakthrough, had come to understand how to use the special power of his armor even if he could not execute it with skill.

When Toma thought of Jun he felt a suspicious and fluttering feeling bubbling in his stomach. He wondered if Jun had gotten angry and put him down somehow or if Toma had said something that evoked an otherwise bad reaction. Jun did have motivation to hurt him, after all; Toma had unintentionally grazed him with an arrow and shortly after that had quite deliberately punched Jun square in the face with no warning and virtually no explanation.

But then Toma realized that he felt well. The aching that had racked his body after the massive battle was almost completely gone and he felt better rested than he had felt in months. He felt calm, his mind was clear and open, and his body was light and responsive.

"You scared me," said Jun from the doorway suddenly, where he stood holding a rather large bowl from which rose thick steam. He grinned slyly as he entered the room and placed the bowl on the table beside Toma's bed. "Honestly, you didn't. I knew you were going to pass out well before you actually did," he continued and Toma watched him dumbly as he pointed absently at the bowl. "It's miso, eat it."

"What happened?" Toma said and regarded the bowl of clearly overcooked soup. The miso was presently beginning to separate from the water to hang in the bowl like a thick cloud hangs in the air. Apparently Jun was less than swift with basic cooking.

Jun looked to Toma confusedly. "I just told you, you fainted."

Toma shook his head and picked up the bowl. "No, I meant why."

Jun's face softened and the sarcastic smile faded entirely. He shrugged as he sat heavily at the foot of the bed. "Any number of things could have caused that to happen. My guess, stupid as it sounds, is that you were just really tired what with the fighting and the protecting Nasté and the stress. When I finished with my armor for a time and we got up to check on Nasté you looked sort of sick. I knew right there that you were going down."

Toma stared blankly at Jun through the hasty explanation, swirled the contents of the bowl, and sipped at the soup absently. Jun was doing an unusually large amount of talking, especially when one considered that he had barely said more than three words at a time to Toma over the last weeks and not one of them had been friendly. Furthermore Jun wasn't simply talking, he was talking fast, he was rambling, and it seemed as though he was trying to speak conversationally though the casual tone did not come natural to him. His words were forced and awkward.

"So," Toma said at last. "How is she?"

"Fine today," Jun replied hastily. "I sent her on an errand to Tokyo; she'll be safe there at any rate. I hope you don't mind, I took the liberty of wrapping your leg. I couldn't help but notice that you were favoring your right side."

It took a moment for Toma to register the sudden shift in subjects, though when he eventually looked under his blanket he could see the thick compression bandage wrapped from his knee to his ankle. It was a kind of tattered thing, dirty and old, though it did ease pain from his leg that he had never even realized was present.

"It looks like you bruised it something terrible," Jun continued. "I'm sorry but that wrap isn't particularly clean, I don't normally do that sort of thing but it was the only bandage on hand. I was using it for my ribs but figured that it would be more beneficial for you than for me."

Toma was now overwhelmed by Jun's explanation and his incessant rambling. He was nervous, Toma decided, or excited, or scared, and was apparently not thinking straight. But as soon as Jun had mentioned his ribs Toma's swimming mind snapped immediately back to reality and he recalled vividly the serious injury that Jun had suffered in the course of rescuing the troopers. Toma had almost completely forgotten about the whole incident, the capture, the rescue, the gaping slice in Jun's side, the broken ribs.

As he recalled the adventure Toma began to feel guilty. He realized that was wrong to have blamed Jun for the assault on Nasté's house, for the other troopers' captures. After all, Shu had only gone after Jun because he remembered that Jun was incapable of protecting himself at his diminished physical capacity. And even during the attack there was likely nothing that Jun could have done to stop the onslaught, not by himself.

Toma decided then that when Jun had offered him and Nasté first aid it was his way of compensating for what had happened, for what Jun perceived to be his own fault, and Toma felt wrong for denying him the chance to make up for his mistake.

"Look," Jun said with finality and Toma understood that he had been speaking the whole while. "I've been treating you like trash and I wanted to say—"

"How is your side?" Toma interrupted.

Jun faltered into silence and stared at Toma blankly. Toma could practically see Jun's mind working behind his eyes, his mouth opened and shut like a fish as he fumbled for words. "They're okay," he said at last and looked embarrassed toward the door, his face turning a shade of pink that Toma found somewhat endearing. "The gash is fine, it healed up a while ago even if the tissue around it is a little tender. My ribs aren't at a hundred percent, though, I'm still running a little slow."

Toma sipped at the soup again, more because he did not know what else to say and did not want Jun to see that he was as amused as he was concerned. He hid his reaction expertly behind the decorative bowl. "So what did you send Nasté to Tokyo for?'

"Food and some extra hardware to make fixing her house a little easier. And I asked her to pick up some first aid supplies, her kit is woefully inadequate, but most of what I asked her to buy is supplementary," Jun said, now thoughtful. And then he added, almost as an afterthought, "And I'm having her deliver a letter to Keio University Hospital to get some old records."

"Old records?" Toma repeated.

"I'm having Nasté get my mother's medical records so that I can do some research. I want to see if there's anything that she neglected to tell me."

Toma placed the now empty soup bowl back on the table and furrowed his brow, giving Jun the most serious look that he could muster. "You really think that knowing will help you?" He paused and Jun looked submissively to the floor. "Because I don't think it will. If it comes to a fight between you and Mai I don't want you to wuss up because she was supposed to have been family."

"I'm not going to wimp out."

Toma felt mildly angry again and he worked hard to keep himself in check. "You don't know that. And besides, you're not half of the egotistical and antisocial guy you would have me thinking you are."

Jun opened his mouth, ready to spew some vitriolic response to the contrary, but as soon as he began to speak he heard the front door slam loudly against the foyer wall. So he shot Toma a look of warning that he hoped would keep him in bed then left the room in a rush both to assist Nasté with what he presumed was a large load and to avoid the uncomfortable interaction with Toma.

Indeed Nasté was carrying a massive load as she lumbered through the front door, which she had evidently kicked open with considerable difficulty. Jun could barely make her out through the mountain of boxes and bags and parcels, though from what he could see she looked to be in remarkably high spirits.

Nasté seemed momentarily confused when Jun relieved her of her load and then grinned broadly at him. If it hadn't been for the thick bandage on her forehead no one would ever have suspected that she had been badly injured only a day ago.

"How is Toma?" She asked pleasantly and followed Jun into the kitchen, where he placed his load on the counter with effort.

"He's all right. He woke up a while ago and I gave him some soup."

"Good to see the two of you are getting along again," Nasté gleamed and produced a thick brown folder that was sealed with an official looking label from one of the grocery bags, then handed it to Jun. "I didn't know that you were in with the dean of medicine."

Jun hid his surprise as he accepted the file. "I've got connections," he said smoothly, but honestly he had no idea what Nasté was talking about. The letter he wrote had been addressed specifically to Hatsuharu Atsuko, the head of surgery at the University Hospital. But Jun supposed that it was not unreasonable to imagine that the doctor had been promoted; he was one of the best in his field and if anything ever happened at the hospital to depose the existing dean he would likely be first in line for the position. A promotion would also explain the ease with which Jun was able to procure such sensitive documents.

"You know, the city was very quiet today," Nasté continued though Jun paid her no mind. "I imagine everyone is glued to their television watching coverage of the disaster in Toyama. The damage was more extensive than anyone had thought, I think. I didn't really expect to get home until much later this evening, considering the long list you gave me."

Jun grunted his reply as Nasté began to unpack and he walked quietly from the room, fidgeting nervously with the file.

Ж

That evening, after a particularly powerful nap, Toma wandered downstairs to find Jun fast asleep in the sitting room atop the file, whose contents were splayed out all around him, and to find Nasté sitting contently at the desk in her study typing feverishly at her keyboard. She glanced at Toma as he entered the office but went almost immediately back to work. He knew the rules: If he had something to say he would say it, if he merely wanted company he was more than welcome to stay quietly until Nasté was finished with her work.

"Jun is passed out in the sitting room floor," Toma said quietly. "Do you think I should wake him up?"

Nasté shook her head. "I don't think so. He's been busy between you and me, plus he's been buried in medical paperwork since I got home this afternoon. You know, he gave me a lot of very useful information on his armor that I've been adding to the files."

"How are you feeling?"

Nasté smiled very broadly and looked momentarily away from her work. "I'm fine, I don't think I've ever had such high quality care as Jun gave me. It's going to be nice having him around."

Toma bit back his instinct to say that Jun might not stay around if Jun had his own way. Instead he leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed and looked absently around the room. "Any word on the others?"

Again, Nasté looked up from her work and peered at Toma with a scrutinizing gaze. He had sounded irritated and his newly assumed posture did nothing to prove Nasté's instinct wrong. Furthermore, his brow was now wrinkled with thoughts that Nasté could only assume were negative.

She shook her head and rested her hand on her palm. "No, nothing has come up. But you have to imagine that those malicious spirits will show up again somewhere. And I think that you and Jun ought to get plenty of rest until that time comes."

"I don't need to rest," Toma protested. "I've been resting all day."

"Then maybe you ought to go and help him with his armor," Nasté said hotly. "He mentioned that he was having some trouble managing the weapons. Then he said something offhandedly about focusing on two cognitive process or two conscious processes or something about two processes. I don't know what any of that means and he was too wrapped up in those records to explain."

"I wish you hadn't brought that file back," Toma breathed, less angry now. "He's trying to verify whether or not Mai is a member of his family, or if she would be if she wasn't dead. I think that he'd be better off not knowing." He paused then and thought. "The enemy is the enemy, if you ask me. Jun never even knew that she existed until Seiji said something about her. I don't see why he suddenly cares so much about someone he never knew."

Nasté looked back at her monitor and stayed quiet for a long time. "I don't know if you've caught on but Jun doesn't seem too keen on keeping us around. He doesn't want us to get hurt, or he doesn't want us to feel obligated to take him in. If Mai is a member of his family then she is all he feels like he has left."

"But she's dead!" Toma cried. "There's nothing he can do for her, she's a ghost, and an evil one at that."

"But he's still got faith in her."

Toma stood straight but did not seem angry. Instead he looked rather dejected and spoke so quietly that Nasté had to work to hear his words. "And I have faith that if he would stop being such a delinquent that he would make a damned good doctor. But faith doesn't equate to reality, you and I both know that."

Then, as Nasté sat slack jawed and speechless, Toma turned, exited the office, and returned to the sitting room where Jun still lay face down and breathing quietly into the crook of his elbow. Toma watched him sleep until he felt positively creepy for doing so, but at the same time Toma couldn't help but stare. He could not stay angry at the boy as he lay there looking ever as the overburdened college student that he should have been, buried in paperwork and apparently exhausted. Toma realized that if he was angry at anything it was at the fact that a natural talent was wasting away on the sitting room floor, poring over useless documents and hoping to change circumstances that were totally beyond his control.

Toma was angry because Jun had messed up, had made terrible choices with his life, and denied help vehemently. And Jun continued to make poor decisions, to put himself and everyone he knew in danger, and Toma knew that Jun knew better.

Jun mumbled some incoherent string of words into his arm then shifted slightly, and Toma drew a long breath. Jun resembled in that moment his ten-year-old self so completely that Toma felt his frustration melt away, and so Toma approached with a soft swear, scooped Jun into his arms, and draped him carefully over the oversized armchair, the only serviceable piece of furniture in the room. Then Toma began gathering up the documents that Jun had expertly scattered all over the ground.

Sonograms and lab results and consent forms piled high on the floor and Toma could not understand how Jun had ever expected to make his way through thirty or forty years' worth of paperwork in a reasonable amount of time.

Once the documents were stacked, Toma sat down before them and began examining them for himself, more curious to see how much of it he could understand than out of voyeurism. The pages were in order so that the most recent records were located near the top of the stack, and these papers consisted mostly of routine preventive tests, blood panels, and the like. When Toma removed a sizeable chunk of the stack he found documents that were seven years old and verified Mrs. Yamano's perfect health through the latter years of her life. After removing another chunk Toma was viewing decade old papers, and as he leafed carefully through them he began to realize that there were indicators of some issue, noted with thick red pen marks on various pages.

Of course, Toma could make neither heads nor tails of most of the papers, but there were a significant number of blood panel result forms and test papers bearing the Keio Hospital watermark, and two sonograms that struck Toma as eerily suspicious. Directly behind these was a page that Toma could read, at least he could make out the smiley face and "yes" as it was written on the page. It was a hospital administered test, and it verified that Jun's mother had been pregnant.

When Toma stacked the file again he omitted that particular page from the pile, truly believing that this test was a secret best kept between himself and Jun's mother. Then he retired to the bed upstairs to think and to sleep, but mostly to think.

Next morning Nasté woke Jun and Toma when it was still dark. She seemed in a panic and was too flustered to offer any coherent explanation as to what was troubling her. So Jun and Toma followed her, exchanging dark looks as she led them into her office, where she motioned for them to gather around her monitor and sat down in her chair.

Surrounded by the two sleepy troopers, Nasté turned her monitor, which displayed a large window that was presently streaming a live news feed from downtown Tokyo, then turned on the speakers and increased the volume.

The reporter, a thick man in his forties with slick black hair and a pocked complexion, stood in the foreground gaping and pointing his crooked finger at a large and ethereal spire that stretched high into the clouds. The structure was black and shining in the night light though the sky was completely obscured by clouds.

"A thick fog rolled over Shinjuku early this morning and has since spread almost twenty kilometers, disabling vehicles, electricity, and most lines of communication; meteorologists have no explanation for the strange weather. The structure you see behind me appeared shortly after the haze, eye witnesses explain that it seemed to grow from the fog. Residents are asked to remain calm and to stay in their homes," the reporter fell silent then, panting with panic and exertion. He shot a shifty look back toward the tower and returned his gaze to the camera quickly. "Authorities will continue to update us as news becomes available."

Nasté flipped off the monitor and whirled about on her chair, looking urgently at the two men who were now alert and apparently very concerned. "That," she said hotly and pointed an accusative finger at the black monitor, "was on a loop. That's the third time that particular news reel has aired. Something is going on in Tokyo and I don't doubt that it has something to do with those spirits or the whereabouts of the others. Gather your things; we're leaving in fifteen minutes."

In the chaos that followed Jun forgot entirely about his mother's medical file. He rushed up and down the stairs repeatedly, collecting a sweater and, after a lengthy dig, an old dirty book bag from the back of Nasté's closet. Into the bag he stuffed the sweater, any nonperishable foods that he could find (as he fully regretted his lack of sustenance on his last adventure), and a custom packed first aid kit which contained every kind of bandage, pain reliever, and tool that one could ever think to include. In addition to all of the traditional items he had packed into the kit two types of local topical anesthetic, a small knife, and a short thin needle which was stuck into a spool of sturdy black thread. The only reasoning he offered for the strange items was "just in case."

Toma watched Jun packing the first aid box with more than a passing interest. He wanted to ask how Jun could possibly need six different bottles of aspirin and ten varieties of sticky bandages, all of different sorts and shapes. But Toma thought better, figuring that it would probably be best to stay quiet in this high stress situation. He did not know how Jun might react to a question as to the necessity of his project and Toma did not really care enough to ask anyway.

So, fifteen minutes later, Toma, Nasté, and Jun piled into Nasté's ancient car and sped off toward Tokyo. Jun insisted that he and Toma both ride in the back seat, a fact that Toma and Nasté found exceptionally strange, but no more than ten minutes had passed when they found out why.

"Give me your leg," Jun said to Toma, suddenly as he turned sideways on the bench seat.

"What?" Toma asked. "Why?"

"I need to rewrap it. You slept on that bandage last night and it's likely to have come loose or to have moved around. I need to fix it so that it won't cause any damage."

Toma gave Jun a very skeptical look, but Jun remained adamant.

"The leg," Jun said shortly and held out his hand. "You'll thank me for this later."

With a long and frustrated sigh Toma swung his right leg onto the seat and Jun went immediately to work, poking and prodding at the bones and muscles and joints while insisting that Toma tell him if any of it hurt.

Once satisfied with his tests Jun rewrapped Toma's leg and then turned back around on the seat, facing the right way once more, and stayed very quiet for the rest of the trip.

The closer they got to Tokyo the darker the sky got, despite the fact that the sun should have been rising at that very time, and by the time they crossed city limits the whole thing looked as a black velvet blanket obscuring the night. Not a single star shined through the black.

At length it began to rain and as they progressed the water came down harder and harder until Nasté was forced to drive at a snail's pace to make certain that she did not run off of the highway. It seemed as though someone stood on the car's hood, blasting a fire hose at full throttle into the windscreen.

Periodically the sky would flash bright with long forked bolts of white lightning that shot from one end of the sky to the other, stretching on as far as the eye could see with no discernable source. In these brief moments of light the three could see that the opposite highway was packed with unmoving traffic and the people in the vehicles seemed utterly mortified.

After another long flash they looked up. The velvet sky was revealed in the afterglow as a mass of oily black clouds, hanging very low and swirling thick in the wind and rain. A crack of thunder broke through the silence and was so loud and unexpected that even Toma jumped, and all three pairs of ears rang for a long time afterward.

The enormous black obelisk rose in the distance and each flash of lightning revealed even more of its foreboding structure. The thing was enormous, at least a mile square, and it stretched up into the sky so high that they could not see its peak. Directly around the tower the clouds broke and whirled as if they were too frightened to get close to it and left a wide circular space through which the troupe could see. The three could barely make out stars beyond the gap in the clouds though they could not tell if what they saw was a reflection from the tower's glassy onyx surface or if what they saw was indeed a spring sky dotted with stars.

On Nasté drove, edging closer to the structure until eventually, predictably, her car died completely. She leaned forward and peered up, examining the spire as it rose ominously above the other buildings, and then turned her attention to the ground where the haze continued to spread forth as fog rolling from the hills.

"I hope you boys are up for a walk," she said and offered the two troopers a meek smile through the rear view mirror. "We're still a few kilometers out at this point."

Toma and Jun exited the car quietly and looked again up at the enormous spire. Then Toma leaned through the passenger window and regarded Nasté gravely.

"I want you to find a safe place," Toma said seriously. "And stay there until you hear from us or until the fog clears up."

Nasté nodded and exited the vehicle. "I'll go back the way I came and see if I can't locate a place to stay in the serviceable areas of the city. You boys be careful."

Toma and Jun nodded their accord and set off into the oppressive gray haze.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 17

Jun and Toma walked in silence for what seemed like an hour, making slow but noticeable progress toward the spire. They strode quite close together as they were so engulfed by the haze that they could not see five feet in any direction around, and their steps were slow and deliberate.

"I figured it out," Jun said after a while as he peered up at the tower. He spoke absently, almost as though he did not expect Toma to listen.

"Figured what out?" Toma replied, on edge. He seemed tired and nervous and Jun wondered if he always acted this way before a fight.

"How to work the armor; or at least how to work its special ability. I still feel uncomfortable with the blades."

Jun paused and waited for a response. Toma continued to walk quietly, seemingly uninterested in Jun's revelation, and Jun worried that he had done something else to earn Toma's resentment. He took a few more steps in silence and eyed the tenku with interest before continuing on.

"It's fascinating, really," Jun said and looked back ahead of him. Now he was speaking casually and this drew Toma's attention. The boy had rarely struck such a tone and Toma had yet to see him acting so positively animated about any subject. "In order to get the shadow to move independently I have to recognize and inhabit its consciousness. I have to control it as if it was my own body."

Toma regarded Jun but gave no indication of his curiosity. "So what?"

"So, in order to control myself and my shadow at the same time I have to maintain two consciousnesses. I have to kind of split my brain in half, like a super advanced version of rubbing your stomach while patting your head."

This bit of information struck Toma so seriously that he couldn't help but show his surprise. "That's impossible," he gaped but Jun merely smirked in reply, as if he knew something that Toma did not. "How do you know?" Toma continued, defeated.

Jun shrugged and looked at the ground. "It makes sense," he said. "It mirrored me when I fought beside Shu because I was only aware of my own actions, I was only conscious of myself instead of myself _and_ the shadow, and because my mind was shared between us we acted identically. If I can split them or devote my entire mind to the shadow then I should get some results."

"Don't be stupid," Toma said, suddenly venomous. "You can't split yourself like that, no one can."

Jun shrugged. "I tried it, it worked for a minute. I just can't maintain it for long."

Toma fell back into resolute silence. He could not honestly say that he was angry even if that was what he projected. He concluded that the instability he felt was a combination of nerves and confusion and Jun's sudden explanation had only compounded the problem. Toma's mind was full and racing; the last thing he needed was more to think about.

Another half an hour passed in silence before the two warriors stumbled across anything of importance. The city seemed as it always had, cars were parked and abandoned on the side of the road and buildings stood pristine against the gray haze, but very suddenly the landscape shifted.

As the pair passed between two buildings the way ahead seemed entirely clear, there were no buildings or cars or structures of any kind, it was as if the tower had fallen from the sky like a meteor, vaporizing everything in a massive radius around. The ground was level below the rubble and the base of the tower was clearly visible among the wreck.

Toma rushed forward and ducked hastily behind a large pile of rock near the alley exit, Jun close on his heels, and the two warriors peered sneakily around their barricade. Clearly visible around the tower were a number of white figures that stood stone still, their bodies glowing bright against the black of the stone behind them.

From the cover they could see a small staircase on one side of the spire with a sentinel standing on either side. This they assumed was the entrance to the place.

"How are we going to get up there without them seeing us?" Jun said quietly.

Toma shrugged and slumped down, his back against the stone rubble. "I'd say we could create a diversion, but that's much easier when there are five of us."

Jun sat next to Toma and draped his arms lazily over his legs, then stared hard at Toma for a time. "I could create a distraction," he said at last.

Toma looked at Jun incredulously though he could offer no rebuttal. He had no more of an idea what to do than Jun and, at this point, any plan was better than no plan at all.

Jun cleared his throat with a delicate cough and looked away from Toma. "I'll run out and draw the guard away from the door," he began and Toma quirked an eyebrow to signal his immediate disbelief. But Jun continued, undaunted by the negative response. "I do a lot of running," he said in explanation. "A lot, free running, I guess. I can get away from anyone in an environment like this."

Toma could have laughed at the absurd claim but he tempered the sarcastic response and grunted his disapproval instead. "Running from those isn't the same as running a timed pizza—"

Jun did laugh then, a cold and joyless laugh that sent a cold spike through Toma's body, shutting him up immediately.

"Please, Toma," Jun said seriously. "I don't run timed pizzas. I run from the cops. I run from thugs with guns. I can handle a few rogue spirits."

Then Jun peered around the rubble, setting out a path and deliberately ignoring Toma's confused stammering. If anything Jun had hoped that the sudden admission would quiet Toma's skepticism, or at least lend some credibility to Jun's plan. But it seemed to have done nothing and now Toma was gaping and floundering for words that would not come.

"Are you ready to move?" Jun ordered.

"What do you mean, you run from the police?" Toma stammered the first complete sentence he had uttered in a while.

"That's not important right now," Jun snapped and shot a glare Toma's way. "I'm going to go. You watch and wait; you'll know when to make your move. I'll double back when the coast is clear and meet you inside."

Jun was up and over the barricade before Toma could think to object, sprinting at breakneck speed toward the guards at the tower entrance and leaving Toma stunned and confused behind the barricade. It was all that Toma could do to restrain himself and peer over the balcony instead of starting after Jun, watching and waiting for his opportunity to move.

As soon as Jun began toward them the white spirits began to move with unexpected speed. The two at the stairs took the bait immediately and made to interrupt the sprinting warrior, but Jun turned sharp at the last moment, cutting to the right and bolting toward the perimeter of the ruins. As he ran more and more spirits took chase until they looked as a great swarm massing at his heels.

Last Toma saw of Jun the boy was disappearing between two buildings with the glowing white mass close at his back, threatening to engulf him at any time.

But the path was clear and the entrance now was completely unguarded. Toma swore as he bolted away from his cover, but could not deny the effectiveness of Jun's plan. All he could do now was hope that Jun would rendezvous alive.

Ж

Had the situation been less dire Jun would have laughed at all of it. He ran on until his lungs burned and his legs wobbled under his weight and the spirits continued to follow relentlessly. He had yet to find an opportunity to duck behind a barrier or climb a low hanging fire escape; he simply could not shake his pursuers.

So he ran on, groping at a stitch in his side and wondering genuinely how far he had come. It had been almost fifteen minutes since he had started his run and he had more than expected to be back with Toma by this point. He wondered if Toma would still be waiting for him, if Toma had found his way inside the tower at all, or if something or someone or something had been lurking just inside waiting for the warriors' grand entrance.

Jun shuddered at the thought and peered over his shoulder. It seemed as though he was gaining ground, even if it was a minor victory, and so he turned his attention forward to try and find a suitable escape route. The spire loomed to his right now, casting an eerie shadow over the city, and Jun hoped dimly that there were no dead ends between there and where he was at now, wherever that was.

He cut suddenly to the right into a dark and narrow alley between what appeared to be a pair of run-down apartment buildings. A light hung on the left side above a metal door, though it produced no light, and a slender metal pipe ran from the rooftop to the top of the first floor windows.

It was a stroke of luck that Jun could simply not ignore. He thanked his good graces and leapt up, grasped the pipe in his hands as tightly as he could, and scaled the side of the building with ease. As he looked down from the rooftop a handful of spirits stopped to peer into the alley in which he had disappeared, and the rest ran on in a straight line.

Now in the clear, Jun doubled over and breathed deep to try and ease the pain in his lungs. And though his chest stung with exertion and his legs felt as though they would give out when he looked up his heart swelled with pride. The spire loomed some four blocks away, a quick jog by Jun's standards, and from what he could see the sentinels had yet to find their way back to their posts.

Not ten minutes later Jun was scaling down the side of a crumbling building, using the windowsills as footholds and the brick siding for support, and he hit the ground running toward the tower entrance. As he approached the massive doors he slowed to a walk and gazed thoughtfully at them; the black stone slabs were etched with the same markings as the first temple entrance had had, yet they were stylistically different and looked entirely evil.

The doors swung open as Jun approached and he stepped inside to find Toma standing in the center of a vast square room with no windows or markings to speak of, but a large black stone pillar rose from the center of the space. In the center of this pillar was a wide opening backlit by firelight and through it the two could clearly see a long and red-carpeted stairwell.

"Glad to see you're back in one piece," Toma said, as much of a greeting as he would offer. "It took you a while."

Jun stepped up to Toma's side and nodded quietly. He was still breathing heavily and he wondered if Toma knew or cared exactly how far he had run. "Under gear?" He asked after a few deep breaths. "If nothing was waiting for us down here then there's certainly something up there."

Toma nodded his accord and summoned his under gear, then watched as Jun followed suit. Once properly attired the two began climbing the winding stone staircase in what seemed a comfortable silence, though if either of the pair had said anything it would have made absolutely clear the anxiety that they both felt.

Toma peered back at Jun a number of times and watched closely as the boy eyed the rising hallway carefully, absorbing every detail of every surface in sight. He wondered if Jun had given this much thought to the first temple and, if so, if such foresight and expert planning was how he had managed to pull off such a difficult rescue effort singlehandedly. But then he wondered if perhaps the whole thing had been a string of ridiculous luck, perhaps it had not been planning at all but rather Jun's unique set of problem solving skills that had led him through the adventure.

Toma felt a lump in his throat when he thought again about what Jun had said before he took off on his diversionary run. The boy had seemed completely unwilling to elaborate on his bold and unexpected statements and Toma could not ignore the insinuation that Jun had been up to no good for some extended period of time. He wondered if that was why Seiji had returned from Toyama so suddenly, claiming only that he would not help those who were unwilling to help themselves. Had Seiji caught him running from the law? And why was he running to begin with?

Toma made a mental note to pose this inquiry to Seiji later on.

The stairs leveled off into a short corridor which ended in another wide opening flanked by bright gold torches. Through this opening lay a wide and square stone room, identical to the floor below save for the stone pillar in the center, with a bright red carpet which connected the hallway entrance to a similar looking exit opposite.

Near the exit to this room stood a dark cloaked figure, a man, who brandished a pair of angry looking long swords with jagged edges and black pommels. When he removed his hood he seemed human, dark haired but with skin so pale it seemed almost translucent, and his eyes glowed an icy shade of blue.

The figure dropped into a low bow, scraping the tip of his swords loudly against the stone, and when he rose he smirked slyly and eyed Jun and Toma evenly.

"Welcome to our home," said the figure in a tone that could have been friendly if it had not been so cold. And then he focused on Jun, who seemed dumbstruck by the sudden appearance of the man. "I hope you will find your stay comfortable."

Toma stepped forward angrily. "Where are the others?" He demanded.

The spirit continued to ignore Toma completely, its piercing gaze locked on Jun. "My master has been waiting for a long time for you to join us here."

"I'm not joining anyone," Jun said coolly. "I work alone."

Toma looked between Jun and the cloaked man, anger bubbling in his stomach. He had never appreciated being ignored, much less in a situation such as this, and despite his assertive demand neither of the other two seemed to so much as care that Toma was even standing there.

"Who are you, and where are the others?" Toma said once again, louder this time, and the cloaked man glared at him with such anger that all of Toma's bluster was suddenly gone.

"Silence, tenku!" roared the man.

Jun watched as Toma stepped back, startled by the sudden noise, and the man waved one of his swords casually in Toma's direction to summon forth a very familiar blue sphere. Toma was trapped before he could think to avoid it. He pounded angrily at the inside of the structure and screamed words that Jun could not hear but knew were less than flattering.

The cloaked man cleared his throat and turned his attention back to Jun, his gaze softer now. "Now that he has been taken care of," he paused and waved his hand again, at which point the sphere, and Toma inside, dematerialized completely, "we can continue our chat."

Jun looked frantically around the room. He felt sudden panic now that he was alone again, now that Toma had been dispatched so effortlessly. He had not even called himself to arms yet.

"What chat?" Jun said slowly, holding his voice steady to mask the terror. "I don't recall this being a pleasurable visit. You destroyed my home, you kidnapped my friends, and you've killed a thousand or more people. Who the hell are you and what do you want?"

"My name is not important," said the man with a smile. "And I assure you that this is no visit of pleasure, we are discussing strict business. I must apologize for the destruction of that city; it was not my doing nor was the doing of my brother, though the assault on your fellows certainly of our making at least in part. I am here merely to ask your submission to my lord."

Jun stared incredulously at the man. He almost laughed at the absurdity of the request. "You are kidding, right?" He said. "You come to my home, you kidnap and hurt my family, and you expect me to want to hook up with you? You're a damned idiot if you think that you're any good at negotiations."

The man blew a sigh and shrugged. "Well, that is why we took your fellow troopers," he said with resignation and raised his swords. "They were to be used as bargaining chips if you should refuse our hospitality."

Jun shook his head. "I'm not bargaining with any one."

Having delivered what he reckoned to be quite a witty quip, Jun called his arms. The black armor settled into place faster than it ever had before, as if reacting to the sensitive situation and within seconds Jun had both glaives in hand and waited in defensive posture for the cloaked man to make a move.

The man stalked forward and lazily tapped the tip of his left sword against the sole of his boot. "Bold of you to wield that armor in the home of its rightful master," he said and stopped suddenly, assuming an offensive posture. "I had hoped that it would not come to this. My master will be upset if I harm the armor in the process of killing you."

Jun's stomach sank and he felt his jaw lock. He furrowed his brow and produced as angry a face as he could, as much to try to intimidate the strange and confident man as to convince himself that he could truly hold up in a one on one blade fight. The glaives still felt awkward in his hands and though he knew that they were perfectly balanced he felt their weight keenly. They felt uncomfortable, the armor as a whole felt uncomfortable, and he could not shake the feeling that he was about to be dominated by this new adversary. And not only would such a defeat be utterly embarrassing, it would have devastating consequences.

No pressure, Jun thought, and he readied himself for the fight.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 18

Jun staggered backward as the first stroke fell; a savage slice with the left blade that slapped so severely against his own that his fingers tingled. The man behind the blades stepped forward while alternating quick, hard stabs and slices while Jun stepped ever backward, avoiding carefully an embarrassing and deadly tumble down the stairs that he had just ascended.

He could not parry any of the blows as he had done with the ornamental broadsword; the man's thin blades would merely slide along the graceful curves of Jun's glaives. It was all that Jun could do to direct the sliding swords away from his body.

The man launched into a hard combination, slicing down with his right blade while stabbing forward with the left. Jun threw his left glaive out to successfully deflect the down slice but could not maneuver the right blade into position to block the thrust. He felt a rush of cold air against his side and pivoted swiftly on his heel, pulling his body away from the deadly strike.

Jun looked down, terrified, and his stomach and head felt light when he realized that the man's fierce offensive had been just as ineffective as Jun's own defense.

"Sloppy," Jun commented wryly, raising his glaives and watching as the man recovered from the dodge. Jun had not seen the man's thrust through and so had not seen the man overbalance and stumble gracelessly forward.

Jun wondered if his erratic style of combat was what had thrown the man off balance, if he was fighting so unpredictably that the man was having difficulty reacting and predicting Jun's movements. Either way, Jun thought, it would not be long before this man's skill defeated his hapless luck.

"This ends now, my friend" said the man evenly and he raised his blades once again. "You clearly haven't the faintest idea what to do with those weapons. There is no way that you can defeat me."

"Well," Jun said, feigning thought. "Do you have any pointers?"

The man's lip curled in an angry snarl and he launched forward once more, coming at Jun with the same alternating strikes as he had before. It was clear now that the man was trying to force Jun to make a critical error but Jun continued to deflect and dodge each strike.

The encounter looked much the same as the initial skirmish except this time Jun was thinking hard, his body on autopilot. He understood now how to slide incoming slices away from him and was getting plenty of practice with the move. He also understood that his attacker was quick to anger and had presently launched into a sloppy and straightforward routine in an attempt to dispatch Jun as quickly as possible. All that Jun had to do now was extend his basic understanding and apply his limited knowledge in a way that would catch the man off guard.

Jun's moment came sooner than he expected and completely by accident. As he stepped backward from yet another aggressive blow he stumbled and took a knee to avoid a devastating pratfall. While Jun was down his attacker brought both blades down in a massive overhead swing. His blades were met with a severely sloped edge and slid with force and speed to the left.

Jun closed his eyes against the sparks, jumped to his feet, and swung his left glaive in a wide horizontal arc. When the man thrust his blade up to parry, the curved metal slid unhindered along its edge, continuing on its path as if there had been no connection at all.

As Jun followed through with the left handed strike he thrust the right glaive forward, its edge angled upward to deflect another useless parry. He continued to whirl about and came full circle, lunching toward the stunned man and using the momentum of the turn to arc the left glaive around, and he sliced a long and ugly wound into the man's unprotected middle.

Jun jumped backward, as stunned by the sudden change of events as the man seemed to be. No blood flowed from the gaping wound but the man dropped his blades and groped at it, staring down wide eyed and horrified. Then he looked up at Jun, his mouth working to form soundless words, and he exploded into a shower of fine black particles that shimmered in the firelight. Then, the mist disappeared entirely.

Jun stood for a long moment, stupefied by the fight's sudden end. He fully expected the man to reappear at any moment as if what had just happened had been some kind of sick joke. But moments passed and the room hung still, silent but for Jun's heavy breaths and the quiet crackle of the torches. Jun surveyed the room half a dozen times and more before he felt that he could replace the glaives in their seats on his back and begin to contemplate how to continue forward.

He realized that he was alone again and a cold snap hit his stomach. The man that Jun had just defeated had dispatched Toma with a wave of his hand and had sent the trooper of strata to god knows where. Without Toma, Jun lost the advantage of numbers, the advice of a more experienced ally, and some much needed companionship.

But now that Toma was gone, Jun could change his tactics entirely to rely on his own personal skill set. He decided with heavy conviction that he would proceed slowly and with skilled stealth. And this time he would fight dirty.

Ж

Toma reeled as the sphere rocketed through the innards of the spire, and though his mind was racing with cold panic he strained to maintain his warrior's focus.

He tried to remember the path that the sphere had taken from the square second story room in which he had left Jun but the vessel turned and twisted so suddenly and so frequently that he could scarcely tell up from down. After a while the tower became a blur of black stone broken only by occasional, quite short, streaks of color as the sphere wound through a new room. Toma tried desperately to mark these places but they passed by so quickly that he could make out only bold, bright colors.

The place grew dark until Toma's glowing prison cast an eerie blue light on everything within a yard radius around. It stayed dark for a long time and Toma felt a subtle shift in direction as the sphere began on a steadily rising path. From the glow of the orb Toma could now see that he was shooting down a rather tight and seemingly endless corridor constructed of the same black stone as everything else. On and on the corridor went and Toma's heart began to race as he contemplated what might be waiting for him at the end of his ride.

Finally, after what seemed like an hour, Toma saw a faint orange light ahead. It grew larger as the now decelerating sphere grew closer and Toma reckoned that this opening was the end of his long journey.

As the sphere neared the opening Toma's muscles coiled in preparation for sudden battle. His racing mind went suddenly blank, ready for the spontaneous thoughts required by reactive fighting, and he stood to his full height as best he could.

When the orb breached the opening Toma's eyes were seared by immensely bright light, disorienting him and sending him staggering into the walls of his prison. He had been prepared for a fight but had not anticipated the sudden, blinding firelight. Having been in the pitch dark for such a long time he was now completely defenseless.

As he struggled to open his eyes he felt the sphere slow to a halt, where it hung for a long moment before it disappeared from beneath him. Toma fell, blind and mortified, and as the air rushed past his body he began to wonder how long he would fall and what he might land on, if he ever landed at all.

He landed very suddenly, having fallen no more than ten feet, and was so shaken by the quickness of his descent that he fell backward gracelessly to the ground. He lay there, breathing heavily, and forced his eyes open in time to watch a set of thick, impenetrable metal bars close overhead. Above them appeared a humanoid figure which settled eerily over the top of this new prison, hovering in the air perhaps a foot above the bars. It was white, vaguely transparent, and cast a soft golden light all around.

Toma looked about. He was sitting in a comfortably sized cage which was situated in a large rectangular room near the wall opposite the place where he had entered the room, marked by a rather large square hole gaping in the top corner. There was perhaps two feet of space between the bars and the brick and on either side of him were cages of similar dimensions.

There were six such cages located in the room, all but one of which was occupied by one of the other troopers who sat staring dumbstruck at Toma. He paid them no mind, as they did not seem keen for words at the moment, and instead continued surveying the room. Between the three cages on his side of the room and the three on the wall opposite ran a thick carpet which was flanked by evenly spaced pairs of tall golden torches which burned with a bright yellow fire.

Toma assumed that this was a throne room because at one end of the carpeted aisle sat an ornate black stone chair that was inlaid with sparkling jewels and etched with intricate designs. The thing sparkled in the torchlight, which shined bright from a line of braziers fixed to a ledge near the ceiling, and an eerie glow issued forth from it.

In the middle of the carpeted aisle stood a girl who had apparently just stopped pacing in order to stare incredulously at Toma as he sat in the cage. He knew that this was Mai, and seeing her for the first time was reminded suddenly of the first time he had seen Kayura while she had been under Arago's control; her long black hair was pulled up high on the back of her head and she wore a kind of partial armor which covered most of her thin torso and her shoulders. On her left hip was strapped a long and slender sword that bounced against her leg as she approached his cage.

"Where is the other?" she said slowly, as though she was talking to someone who was exceptionally dull.

Toma crossed his arms over his chest and looked defiantly away, his eyes closed and his nose pointed slightly skyward. He would not dignify her with a response.

Mai approached the cage and kneeled down quite close to it, then grasped the bars in her hands and looked desperately at Toma. He opened one eye just enough to glare at her and maintained his indignant pose.

"You met Haku, then?" she said and her voice was very quiet. "He is the only one capable of producing those spheres, so you must have. How is it that you are here and the other is not?"

Toma regarded Mai carefully. It was not surprising that she knew that he and Jun had entered the spire, was not surprising that she reasoned that they had met this Haku character, though her expression smacked of complete confusion and her eyes made her seem utterly afraid.

"Answer me a question and I'll answer yours," Toma said, squaring his head and leaning closer to the bars.

Mai nodded curtly.

"Why don't you already know what is going on?"

Mai's eyes grew wide as saucers and she leaned away from the cage. She shot a nervous glance toward the throne and another toward the door opposite the massive chair, and then she looked back at Toma with a steely gaze.

"The lord is angry with me," she said plainly. "Now how is it that you are here and the other is not? Where is the shadow?"

Toma shrugged honestly and shot a smart look to each of the other troopers, who were watching raptly as Mai and Toma spoke. "I have no idea," he said casually. "I was sent off before anything happened and wound up here. I can only assume that your friend Haku is dead and that my friend is on his way up here to kill you as well."

Mai stood, backed a pace away from the cage, looked around the room nervously, and then cleared her throat gently. "The spirits above your enclosure inhibit your ability to summon your armor," she said, sounding official, her voice loud and steady. "I ask you not to try, as it will cause you significant discomfort."

"Thanks," Toma replied dryly.

Mai stared at Toma once more with an expression of utmost concern, and jerked her head subtly as if in acknowledging his thanks. Then she turned and left the room.

The troopers sat in silence for a long moment after she left and as Toma looked between them he could see that their expressions bordered somewhere between irate and perplexed. In the cage to his right, Shu had inched close to the bars and stared at him with a furrowed brow, in the cage to his left Seiji wore a similar expression, though his was slightly softer. Directly across the way Ryo looked somewhat amused and Shin, to Ryo's left, looked blankly between the others the same as Toma had done.

Toma understood that they were waiting for an explanation, though they had said nothing and he was completely uncertain where to begin. Furthermore, he did not know what had become of Jun, whether he had engaged in a fight against the sword wielding Haku, and if they had fought who had won. His speech to Mai was as much bluster as it was fact, and he did not want to give anyone false hope.

"I think Jun is okay," Toma said meekly. "We got inside and met a spirit who encased me in the sphere and sent me up here."

"Where are we?" Shin said. "None of us recall anything after the attack at the house and Shu doesn't remember anything from the forest. What's happening outside?"

"We're located in a tower in Shinjuku. It appeared downtown yesterday, as best I can tell, though I have no idea where it came from. It showed up with the same fog as we met at Kayura's shrine."

The room fell silent as the others digested Toma's information. He had not said anything that they could not have guessed, though his confirmation that Jun was with him was both encouraging and a little scary. While the boy had once rescued them all, they each harbored serious doubts that he could pull off a similar task again and doubted even more that he could do so with the same precision.

"Well, I've got some news for you about Mai. It doesn't seem that she has a great reputation with her boss," Ryo said at length and proceeded to recount the scene that he had witnessed between Mai and the spirit that she called _Lord_.

Toma listened intently but did not speak for a long time after Ryo had finished the story. Between the conversation he had just had with Mai and the event between her and her master it seemed as though she was in a dire position. She was afraid, that much was obvious, and yet she could not openly defy her master without serious consequence. She was a wild card, her motivations were as muddied as Jun's were, and Toma noted this with some degree of regret. She had seemed too afraid to be completely evil. Perhaps if he could persuade her to give him information she could be redeemed, freed from the control of her master, and her spirit could rest.

"Since we don't know whether or not Jun is coming we need to come up with our own plan to get out of here," Seiji said after lengthy silence.

"God knows that kid is flaky," Shu added. "Good fighter, but completely unreliable."

Toma sighed and leaned back, prepared for as long a brainstorming session as ever the troopers had had. He closed his eyes and turned his face toward the ceiling and said, "I'm sure he'll come."

Ж

Stairs. Forever. Jun had been climbing for what seemed like hours through winding stairwells and empty black stone rooms, some of which were lit brightly with enormous braziers and others completely dark. He had met no opposition since defeating Haku on the second floor and felt thankful for the reprieve, though the calm gave him time to reflect on Toma's capture and his own total solitude.

He felt heavy and overburdened, though he could not be certain if it was the armor that wore heavy on his shoulders, the guilt over Toma's capture, or some mix of the two that caused him to feel so terrible. He repeated the encounter over and over again, how Toma had demanded to know where everyone was and what was going on, how the dual-wielding man had dispatched him with a wave of his hand. And Jun had defeated that capable man through dumb luck and a lot of flailing.

The initial rush that followed his victory had faded fast into what he could only describe as grief. He climbed onward, and as he took each step he second guessed himself, wondering whether or not he could take on a host of spirits, another heavily armed and incredibly skilled warrior, Mai.

He wondered where his confidence had gone. He had felt good when he rescued the troopers before, when he was solely responsible for their safety. He had thrived under that intense pressure and yet, now that he was in a similar circumstance, he felt none of the bravado and courage that he once had. He felt afraid and alone and incapable of wielding his weapons with any degree of certainty. He had not practiced and had denied any assistance that the others had offered. He had been stupid and arrogant and now he was paying for it.

They were all paying for it.

Jun was so engrossed in his own pitiful thoughts that he nearly walked headlong into a group of spirits on what he estimated to be the twenty first floor. He thought that he had heard some kind of noise as he ascended the winding staircase but had cast it away as his imagination growing lonely without Toma, but when he glanced up to see shadows dancing against the wall he stopped cold.

They were swarming into the wide room ahead of him as if it was the staging area for war. They poured in from doors on either side of the space and rushed down from the staircase opposite where Jun presently stood. There must have been twenty of them when Jun poked his head around the corner, and more were entering the room every second.

But the shadowy figures seemed preoccupied, as if they had just been told some bad news. They huddled in groups and though Jun was uncertain whether or not they could speak properly to each other it seemed as though they were gossiping amongst themselves while awaiting further orders.

Jun pressed his back against the wall and thought hard. He was alone against a throng of presumably well trained spirits. The only weapons he had were the clumsy glaives on his back and the practically uncontrollable shadow of his armor, which he worried he would be unable to handle under pressure. The only times he had successfully gotten it to act outside of mirroring himself was in the peace and quiet of Nasté's back yard, and this place was a far stretch from there.

He released his armor then, deciding that his best chance was stealth, at least until he had the upper hand in the situation. He poked his head around the corner once again and surveyed the space into which he was about to move. It was lit by a single large brazier in the far corner of the room, a semi-spherical structure from which flame rose as if it burned inside a very deep soup bowl. The shadows were filling the room fast, though none stood directly underneath the fire, and they continued to talk amongst themselves.

A plan was beginning to formulate in the back of Jun's frantically working mind.

He rummaged in his rucksack and grinned despite his worry when he produced a rather large bottle of water. He hoped and assumed that the flame in the brazier was natural enough, it burned bright orange as a campfire, and so he concluded that dousing the flames would cast the room into darkness at which point Jun would hold the advantage. If he could summon his armor fast enough after the lights went out and dispatch a portion of the spirits, there was a chance that he would be able to escape with little difficulty, perhaps without pursuit.

He breathed deeply. His plan required stealth and quiet and precision, all of which he felt comfortable with, though for some reason his stomach still fluttered with fear and a faint hint of nausea. Why was it that when acting in the name of heroism he always seemed to be terrified?

Slinging the bag onto his back, Jun crept forward. As an afterthought he pulled the hood on his black sweater up, though he understood that it would have little difference on his visibility. His steps toward the door were smooth and slow and as he breached the entrance, slipping to the left wall, it seemed as though he had gone unnoticed.

Inside of the room the air buzzed with the hum of generally incomprehensible talk. The flow of spirits into the room had slowed significantly and now only a few last minute stragglers rushed into the place. Most of these figures stayed toward the back of the group and, luckily for Jun, none of them seemed keen to lean against the walls.

He neared the first corner and looked up, holding his breath as he passed a particularly large spirit who stood very close to the wall. Jun inched past, pressing his body close to the stone, and continued holding his breath until he crouched in the corner proper, a shadow amongst shadows, still unseen.

It seemed almost instant when the mood of the room shifted. Jun could not see what caused the sudden change but every one of the black spirits in the room stood tall, spread out into organized ranks, and faced the door opposite Jun. The room fell into complete silence.

Jun dared not breathe and dared not move. He felt his heart thumping, pounding so hard and so fast against his chest that he wondered stupidly whether or not the spirits might hear it. His hands trembled and his knees felt weak and it seemed as though the rush of adrenaline had completely failed him. He was frozen and terrified amongst a huge number of enemies, unarmed and unarmored except for a bottle of water and his yoroi ball.

After a while there came a shuffling and a voice spoke loud and strong from the head of the army. It boomed and echoed in the relatively small space and Jun felt himself cowering against it despite his attempt at courage.

He felt sudden comfort in his cowardice. He realized that the fear that gripped him now was nothing to be ashamed of; it held him back against the rashness that had caused him so much trouble in his initial rescue. It tempered him and kept him firmly against the wall in the corner, waiting for his opportunity to move.

"Haku is dead," boomed the voice. "There were two intruders, one of which has been captured. The shadow remains free and is running about this castle. Find him, kill him, and bring the armor to me."

Again Jun found himself grinning. What a compliment this new man had paid him, acknowledging that Jun was a significant threat, that he had dispatched what had apparently been a commander despite his general lack of skill in battle, at least with the glaives.

"The lot of you have let our lord down in past," the voice continued. "If you do not find the boy within the hour then you will be punished. But," the voice paused, its tone slightly higher, sweeter, "the spirit who produces the whelp will be rewarded handsomely, our lord promises rest and peace to you, whoever is successful in this task. Avenge the death of my brother and I may find reward for you as well."

The spirits began to rustle and mumble incoherently among themselves again. They turned to one another, discussing the offered prize as if deciding whether or not to accept.

Jun decided that he should proceed again, while the room was alive with sound and movement. He shuffled along the wall silently, holding his breath and trying mightily to suppress and slow his pounding heart. Four feet later he stood directly beside the door from which a sizeable portion of the spirits had entered. Crouching low, he peered through.

The stone floor extended ten feet into the vastly long room before dropping off entirely. Beyond the ledge was a long expanse of what could have been water, but it was gray and shimmering and thick like mud, and it extended out until the room was lost in darkness.

The only light into this room came from another single brazier that sat on the floor near the door, and in the light Jun could see figures flailing about in the water. They looked to be drowning, in pain, and afraid. Above them hovered a dozen of the same white spirits that had guarded the entrance to the spire, though what purpose they served Jun could not be certain.

Turning his attention back to the crowd nearest to him, he slipped past the door and into the next corner. Sitting directly beneath the brazier he waited for a long moment to make certain that the throng was still adequately distracted, then unscrewed the wide mouthed bottle, took a long draft from it, and overturned it into the brazier.

The fire sputtered and died, and the room fell into complete darkness.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 19

Jun thoroughly regretted the lack of thought that went into his plan. He had carefully calculated how he would get to the brazier and how he would douse the fire inside of it, but he had not thought about what would happen once the light was out. All he knew was that he needed the armor.

He had started the summons the instant that the lights went out, and he could scarcely hear the sound of the armor assembling on his body over the cacophony of confused spirits. He could hear them bustling about, could feel wind as they rushed blindly by him, groping around to find their routes of escape.

The armor settled and Jun leapt into action. He grasped the glaives, not by their centrally located holds but rather held them somewhat delicately near their pointed edges, and swung them crosswise, his right blade moving left and his left blade moving right, and effectively destroyed every spirit in a massive frontal arc. Feeling positively suave, he tossed his left glaive in the air and caught it by the long centrally located hilt, figuring that he would use the right hand for long and offensive strikes while the left deflected any counterattacks as he had mastered against Haku.

He heard a shout from his left and the brazier flared back to life in an instant. The remaining spirits turned on Jun and hesitated, just for a moment, before swarming toward him. They were spurred on by shouts from their commander, who apparently still stood at the head of the room.

"Get him!" cried the man, his voice ringing high above the noise. "Kill him!"

Jun dove head first into the crowd, his right glaive leading the way while his left maintained a steady position directly above his head. He swung low, in wild wide arcs, connecting with what should have been knees and thighs and torsos. The spirits fought back violently and Jun found himself hard pressed to maintain his offensive advantage.

He had hoped, in charging inward, that he could create enough panic to drive the spirits out of the room, but instead they merely swarmed around him, attacking his exposed back with abandon. Though the armor did negate many of the attacks, a savage slice fell between the plates on his right shoulder and before long he felt warm blood oozing down his arm. The wound stung, though it did not weaken his arm, and Jun whirled about to dispatch the spirits behind him.

It dawned upon him as he turned that he was completely surrounded, that the confusion caused by the sudden darkness had failed as soon as light was returned, and the spirits surrounding him seemed more irate than ever. Now was the time to make his escape, he thought, or else he was likely to end up a bloody heap on the floor. Clearly these things were not interested in taking him alive, not after the devastation he had wrought on their allies.

He regripped his right glaive and began whirling about as he had done against the forest army at Nasté's, and as he fought he assessed his exits. The door directly to his right was off limits; between the expanse of gray liquid and the endlessness of the room inside he could not be certain that moving that direction would help him at all. The staircase behind him was presently teeming with black figures that seemed to be pouring from the upper levels to get a swing at him, so that way was out of bounds as well. The only option was the door to the left, in front of which stood the commander, still completely obscured by the mob.

Jun lunged ahead, cutting massive arcs in front of himself as he pushed through the crowd, sending every monster he met flying into brilliant clouds of shimmering black mist. He covered ground quickly and moved with reckless abandon, his mind set only on fleeing from the spirits until he could either find a defensible position or lose them entirely.

It seemed after a time that he was moving slower and slower the closer to the exit he came. He no longer lunged forward in great long strides but now stepped diligently, planting each foot in front of the other as often as he could produce an opening, but those opportunities seemed to be presenting themselves less now than they had two minutes prior. Furthermore it seemed that every so often he was pushed back, or staggered back, as a rogue strike smashed his body from any random side. He could feel the burn of many small cuts and developing bruises where the spirits had slipped through his armor. More of the amoebic weapons of the spirits shot over his head, straight and quick as Toma's arrows, and Jun could not help but wonder how soon he would be run through.

He came out the other side and staggered forward gracelessly, having not expected the sudden break in resistance. The door was in sight now, only a few steps away, and through it he could see a long narrow corridor that ended in a sharp left turn. In that moment of sudden freedom his hopes soared. He felt light on his feet and his mind was for the first time in what felt like hours completely focused on a single achievable goal: Escape.

His legs pumped furiously as he worked to regain his balance. His arms, no longer swinging at the throng of spirits, reached forward toward the empty expanse before him. The world seemed to slow around him.

An explosion came behind him, a sudden white hot pain in the back of his head that fell so forcefully that his vision blurred. He heard the clang of metal on stone as his glaives hit the floor and, before he ever knew what had hit him, he was face down on the ground.

All that Jun could hear was his heart beating in his ears. The throng of spirits behind him had fallen into silence. He tried to push himself up but his arms and legs would not move. His body was completely unresponsive and he wondered, terrified, whether he had been paralyzed.

"That was a stupid move," said the commander's voice from behind with an almost imperceptible laugh. "You didn't honestly think that you could just run past me, did you?"

A thousand colorful swears ran through Jun's mind.

"I can see why my lord wanted you so badly; you destroyed nearly three quarters of my assembly. And with such flair!"

Jun knew that he was being mocked.

He heard very light footsteps as the commander approached, though with his forehead pressed to the ground and his eyes closed against the pain in his head Jun could certainly not see his shiny black boots. The commander stopped next to him, Jun felt a dreadful jolt of fear in his stomach, and then felt a hard impact on his already tender ribs.

He rolled with the blow and wound up on his back, looking through blurred eyes at the same man that he had defeated hours before. It was Haku all over again; the same physique, the same swords, and the same terrifying eyes. But this man did not wear a cloak, his attire was simple and black with no armor to speak of, and it was all accented by the thick silver belt which fastened his swords to his hips.

The commander grinned and placed his foot in the center of Jun's chest and placed a significant weight on it. "I did not expect you to be so easily bested," he said. "Much less after you destroyed my brother, Haku."

"Neither did I," Jun croaked.

The man laughed out loud and pressed his foot down harder. "I see why my master wanted you alive," he said. "With such wit and skill, even in the bonds of your flesh body, you could be of much use to us on the outside."

Jun instinctively raised his hands and grasped weakly at the man's calf. He felt heartened by the slow return of his faculties, though he still understood that he was in a terrible position. He wondered how long it would take before this man was finished talking. It seemed to Jun that the commander enjoyed the sound of his own voice.

"Where are the others?" Jun said quietly and his voice was uninflected. He meant for the question to provoke another ramble without inviting additional pain. "What is this place?"

"They are with my lord," replied the commander and then he extended his arms out, as if presenting an enormous prize on a game show. "This place is the spire of the damned, where lost souls come to work for the sustained order of the nether realm."

Jun furrowed his brow, confused, but more than willing to extend the conversation. "How does destroying Toyama and killing a bunch of civilians qualify as working for order?"

The commander laughed again. "I like you, boy," he said, "because I can't tell whether you're incredibly smart or hopelessly stupid."

"Thanks," Jun replied and thought for a moment, trying to appeal to the apparent pride of this particular man. "You're incredibly powerful, the lot of you," he suggested and felt bile rising in his stomach. In any other circumstance he would refuse to brown nose in such a way. "How?"

"My lord ascended through this spire and deposed its old overseer. By the time anyone of great importance noticed he had united the spirits within this spire," said the commander and he beamed with pride, lifted his foot slightly from Jun's heaving chest. "He recruited myself, Riku, and my brother, Haku, as commanders to lead his dark army, and we decided to turn our attention to your world to search for my lord's armor, the armor that you are presently wearing, because with its enormous strength we can depose the higher powers of the nether world and extend our reach beyond what you feeble humans could ever imagine."

It's always a power grab, Jun thought. But he had succeeded, at least partially, in distracting the commander above him even if what he said made no sense at all. The man named Riku continued to talk, rambling on about power and corruption and darkness, and Jun flexed the muscles in his arms and legs quietly.

He took a deep breath and looked as subtly as he could into the room that he had meant to enter. From his angle on the floor he could see that the left turn at the end of the corridor proceeded up a ramp and was quite narrow. He had no idea where that way would lead, but it seemed defensible enough, and was now his only chance for escape.

In one motion, Jun kicked up with his right foot, his armored boot connecting solidly with the underside of Riku's upturned chin, and rolled back onto his hands and knees. His vision swam with the sudden move and he watched dumbly as Riku staggered backward, clutching his face.

At once the spirits that remained in the room charged forward, but Jun was too quick. He lunged to the right, retrieved his fallen glaives, and bolted into the long corridor.

As he ran his mind raced. His body felt heavy and his head throbbed with such intense pain that he felt his brain would explode. Add the blow to his head to the slice on his shoulder and he knew that he was in a completely unenviable position. Despite his ability to talk his way out of what could have been a fatal encounter, he was uncertain that he could fend off the huge number of enemies at his back, and even if he could lure them into a one-on-one scenario he could not be sure how long he would be able to endure.

He seated the glaives on his back, choosing to flee for as long as he could, and touched a hand to the back of his head. His hair felt slimy and warm and when he dragged his fingers toward his ear a sharp stabbing sensation shot through his skull. His breathing quickened and his stomach dropped when he realized the severity of the wound. With a laceration of that size he should unconscious, if not dead. Even as he ran now he felt waves of dizziness and nausea washing over him and more than once he felt his knees wobble, threatening to give way under the strain of the sprint.

The swarm of spirits, led by Riku, was gaining ground. Jun dared not glance back over his shoulder, though he could feel hands clawing at his glaives and more than once saw a weapon shoot harmlessly past his head. He could hear the shuffling of their footsteps and the angry cries of their commander as he screamed "Get him! Kill him!"

Jun dove to the left as soon as he reached the end of the hallway, sliding across the stone and connecting hard with his right shoulder, but he staggered onward up the ramp. When he looked behind he saw Riku round the bend, his swords drawn and his face contorted in a furious growl. Behind Riku a host of spirits crashed into the wall like wave against rock, pushed by the beings behind, and black particles showered the room in a thick mist.

Jun scrambled forward. His armored boots slipped against the slick stone and he leaned heavily against the wall to maintain balance. Behind, Riku was having no trouble at all ascending the steep incline.

"How long do you think you can run, boy?" Riku called. "Turn around and face me like a man!"

Jun continued running. He could see a light some distance ahead, a faint white glow that poured into the darkening hallway and beckoned Jun to his freedom. If he could only reach it, could get onto a flat surface, perhaps into a room with multiple exits, he was confident that he could outmaneuver his pursuer well enough to escape. After all, with the slice in his shoulder and the lingering effects of a hard blow to the head, Jun was certain that he could not best Riku in a straight fight.

He felt a hand grasp his wounded shoulder and he swooned against the rough touch. Riku wrenched the arm about and Jun whirled unwillingly to face him. He was so close to the exit now, ten yards away at most, yet instead of feeling the rush of freedom he was now forced to fight.

Riku thrust his left blade forward and Jun jerked away, meaning to pull completely free of Riku's grasp. But Riku's grip was unbreakable; it was as if Jun was pulling against bands of iron.

The sword slipped harmlessly above Jun's shoulder and Riku threw him away, at the same time redirecting the missed swing downward in a diagonal slice that sparked and screamed off of Jun's armored chest plate. Jun stumbled to the ground, unable to draw his own weapons, and rolled away from a right handed thrust.

Riku roared in anger and waved his swords viciously, Jun scrambling backward and kicking at any strikes that drew too near. Jun realized as he lay there, prone on the ground, that this man was as unlike his twin as anyone he had ever known; rather than losing his temper at Jun's momentary escape he funneled his rage into focus and struck with pinpoint accuracy and deadly strength. Now Jun was shuffling, unable to stand, unable to fight back, and unable to see what lay past the hallway's exit.

Jun gave a great shove backward with his legs, propelling himself several more feet up the ramp. He grasped at the wall, trying to find a hand hold, and to his great relief and surprise felt a sharp corner in his palm. He had reached the end of the corridor.

"No you don't!" Riku shouted and raised his swords high above his head. He ran forward, closing the gap to Jun in an instant, and brought both blades down lightning quick.

Jun let go the wall and fell flat on his back, thrusting his hands up to catch Riku by the wrists. He clamped down on Riku's black leather bracers, stopping the attack dead, planted his foot firm in the center of Riku's chest, and rolled backward, throwing Riku head over heels into the room beyond the hall.

Jun's sudden elation at his agility under pressure was cut woefully short as he felt himself being pulled along as well. Riku's hand was clasped firmly on Jun's wrist now, and as Riku flew into the expanse of the next room so, too, did Jun.

Next thing he knew Jun was falling, his head below his feet, and as he fell he could see Riku's expression shift from maniacal glee to absolute horror. Below them, in a space the size of an Olympic swimming pool, bubbled the gray liquid that Jun had seen once before and it was filled with agonized looking figures.

"No!" Riku screamed, horrified. "No!"

And then he hit the surface. A thousand oozing silver hands reached up from the depths to claw at his thrashing body. Riku screamed unintelligibly, his mouth forming words that would not articulate, and he squirmed against the hands futilely. Their grip was too strong and soon Riku's body disappeared below the surface, his screams sounding as gurgling muffled by the thick fluid.

Jun realized then that he was falling as well, that he would hit the surface, that he would share the same fate as the terrified Riku, and his mind and body went numb with horror. No sooner had this thought registered than he hit the fluid, his back smashing against it with a sickening slap, and the figures began to grasp at his body. They were freezing cold, clammy, and wet, and despite their slimy appearance the hands were remarkably strong and their fingers clamped on Jun's arms and legs like a vise.

He pulled away, his mind blank and his body acting on impulse alone, but try as he might he could not wrench himself from the claws. Then he stopped, exhausted, and felt his body grow heavy as it sank below the surface. It was thick but clear and he could see the featureless faces of thousands of spirits as they swam around him, reached out to him, and pulled him ever downward. His breath expired and he gasped, sucked in a deep lung full of the gray liquid, and felt suddenly calm, as if he were breathing air. Then he grew sleepy, his eyes heavy and his body like a rock. He breathed in his watery surroundings and did not think twice when he closed his eyes and fell peacefully into darkness.

Ж

The troopers eyed the faceless black skinned man that occupied the jeweled throne with a high degree of interest. The man had appeared some twenty minutes prior, interrupting their discussion on how they might escape without use of their armors, and had plopped down on the seat looking positively irate. Now he tapped angrily on the arms of the great chair and his head rested impatiently on one palm. He was staring intently at the closed doors before him.

Toma exchanged a look with Seiji, who sat in the enclosure to his left and scooted as close to the bars as he could. He felt strange in that moment, his stomach rolled in knots and his mind raced with what he might have called anxiety, but he could not understand why. He had been fine, all things considered, up until that man had appeared in the room but he understood that something had to be desperately wrong for such a powerful figure to show up amongst his prisoners.

"I think something is wrong," Toma said and Seiji leaned closer. "That's the guy that Ryo told us about, and for him to be here something terrible must have happened."  
"Terrible for who, though?" Seiji replied. He had not meant to sound so cryptic but the words had come out long before he had considered his inflection. "He doesn't look too pleased."

Toma heaved a long sigh and slumped against the bars of his cage. The conversation between the troopers had been completely fruitless, they had come no closer to an effective escape plot than they were when they started and if Jun was in trouble then their prospects looked grim indeed. He hoped that the sick feeling in his stomach was not an indication of death.

"I hope Jun is okay," he mumbled in an undertone, and as much as he may have hated to admit it, he meant it.

After a time the doors at the end of the aisle swung open powerfully and Mai rushed into the room, her chest heaving and her expression of horror. She did not so much as glance at the troopers as she passed their cages and instead dropped to one knee feet in front of the throne.

The warriors could see that she was speaking, her head was bowed and one fist rested against the place where her heart should have been, though her voice was so quiet that they could not hear. When she was finished, she shrank back and cowered.

"What?" Roared the throned man and he jumped to his feet. Though his face was almost entirely featureless it was clear to anyone that he was enraged beyond conception.

They could hear Mai squeak an apology, though they were certain that whatever she had apologized for was not her fault at all.

"What of the whelp, then?" Yelled the man.

"Engulfed as well," Mai squeaked, and this time the troopers could hear her. "Riku pulled him in, I saw from the-"

"Silence!"

Mai continued cowering before the angry man who had now begun to pace in front of his throne. His arms were crossed over his chest and his eyes were locked on the floor, and every so often he would shoot a reproachful glance at Mai.

"Riku was assimilated," the man said quietly, "and Haku was destroyed by the shadow glaives. This leaves you, child, as my only remaining officer."

"I am honored, lord!" Mai said automatically.

"Contact a regiment and have the palace searched for remains of the armor. If my commanders did not survive a swim amongst the wraiths then he certainly will have died. But I am not so foolish as to believe that the whelp is dead until I have his body and my armor safely in my possession; until they are retrieved you will stand guard outside of this room. If he is alive he will be ascending the tower."

"Yes, my lord," Mai said. Then, she stood and exited the room with the same quick stride with which she had entered.

The terrible man stopped pacing and whirled on his heel to face the warriors, his eyes contorted with emotion, and he laughed wildly. "Do you hear that?" He spat. "Your hero fell into the wraith pool; he will have been torn apart!"

The troopers exchanged looks of horror and disbelief. Jun had been their best chance at breaking out and the thought of him wounded or dead was inconceivable. He had seemed so capable, so indomitable, and so flawless in his fighting that it was difficult to imagine that he had been bested. Even without much needed training he had expertly flailed his way through a number of fights, each warrior recalled in turn their prior rescue, though they all understood that such a streak of luck was bound to end at some point.

"And even if he is not dead," the man purred, "his armor, my armor, will have been stripped from him by the guardians. They understand my desires, you see, they understand the power hidden in the shadows and they will not betray me. They realize the potential of my power."

It seemed for a moment that the man was insane. His hands were now clasped in front of his face and he tapped his fingers against his closed fist like mad scientist. He was giddy with himself, with the prospect of attaining the armor that he had sought for such an apparently long time; it was as though he had forgotten that the troopers were there entirely. He laughed, suddenly and loudly, and then he disappeared.

Ж

The first thing that Jun felt when he woke was fear. He realized that he was conscious, his chest felt heavy and his lungs burned with intense fire. He realized that he was not breathing, and a massive jolt of gut wrenching horror shot through his body. His eyes shot open, were burned by bright white light, and fell into focus on a meter square portion of the ceiling that dripped viscous gray fluid in even rhythm on his presently unarmored chest.

In the instant that he woke, panic stricken and terrified, he felt himself choking, suffocating on what he imagined was the fluid that he had fallen into. He began to cough in violent fits, his stomach spasmed so hard that he feared he might be sick, and with a sudden strength motivated purely by horror he rolled himself onto his side.

With his forehead pressed hard against the cold wet floor he coughed and spluttered for what seemed like forever. He felt warm fluid issuing from his mouth, heard it splatter against the stone, and eventually he drew a long, shuddering breath. He laid there for a long time, breathing heavily, his body quivering with exertion and fatigue, before he finally opened his eyes.

He immediately wished that he hadn't.

He was lying in a pool of fluid of a sick reddish brown color in which swirled streaks of gray and bright bold red. For a moment he worried that he had coughed up blood, that he was bleeding internally, and that despite his strange encounter with the gray pool that he would die all the same. With this worry in mind he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and stared at it: Bloodless.

It was only then that he recalled what had happened before his fall; that he had been wounded, that his head and shoulder had both been bleeding freely when he hit the water. He felt nauseous again, dizzy, and weak, and despite his best efforts to suppress his body's reaction he was sick on the spot.

When the nausea finally subsided minutes later he sat up, weak and dizzy, and delicately raised his hand to the back of his head. His hair was matted and clumped and when he pulled his fingers over the laceration it felt as though it had begun to heal. The skin felt thick and rough and he was relieved that his body was repairing itself. The same held true for the cut on his shoulder.

The degree to which his body had healed was marginally disconcerting. He wondered how long he had been unconscious as it would have taken hours for such serious wounds to close on their own, and how long he had gone without drawing breath.

But he was alive and for that he was thankful, so he pushed the terrifying thought that he may have been completely dead out of his mind and surveyed the room in which he now sat, surrounded by blood and liquid and sick.

The room was narrow and so long that he could not see either wall as he looked side to side. The brick was no longer black but gray and it glistened with shining particles that danced in the light. On the walls near the ceiling were situated glowing white orbs that cast soft and even light everywhere. The place was a far stretch from where he had been, and though it seemed significantly more inviting Jun could not help but remain skeptical.

"Good evening," came a voice from behind.

Jun did not move.

"Welcome to the bowels of the spire of the damned," it continued. "I am the Guardian of Souls, keeper and assessor of all who pass through the realm of death."

Jun turned slowly and peered at the figure that had somehow appeared from nowhere. He was tall and thin, appearing as a wizened old man with a hunched back and a kind, full-featured face. He wore white robes and held a long white staff and though he appeared almost completely human his skin was pale and translucent and Jun knew at once that he, too, was a spirit.

Jun stared at the thing, too dumbfounded to speak, and it smiled at him benevolently, the wrinkles in the corners of its piercing blue eyes crinkling up merrily. "Are you afraid, young man?"

Jun shook his head dumbly.

"Good," replied the Guardian. "And I assume that you are well aware that you are alive, judging by your apparent sickness and your discomfort with my presence."

Jun nodded.

"I met you once before, years ago. I should say that I'm quite happy that I decided that you should return to life. I'm not surprised that you don't remember," the guardian paused and examined Jun's blank stare as if trying to extract some meaning from it. Then his smile widened and he let out a short boisterous laugh. "I like you," he said.

"I get that a lot," Jun said in reply, his voice very quiet.

The Guardian extended a wrinkled and long fingered hand down, and Jun took it at once. It felt warm and comforting; a far stretch from the cold emptiness of the black spirits, and Jun knew at once that he was in safe hands.

The old man pulled Jun to his feet with unnatural strength and laid his hands happily on Jun's shoulders, looking him up and down like a distant relative examining a grown child. His face beamed and his eyes glittered the same way as the stones in the wall, and he patted Jun's shoulders, at which point Jun grimaced, before speaking again.

"I am sorry that you were hurt so badly. You must understand that I am almost entirely powerless to act within this spire."

Jun pulled away from the man and eyed him curiously. "The white spirits in this place?" he prompted.

"Are guardians as well. They act as my eyes and ears in the spire while I am trapped down here. They hold no allegiance to the dark spirits, but act neutrally. If we can remain unaffected by the encroaching war then—"

"Where are the others?"

The man stopped short and looked blankly at Jun for a long while. "I see that you are uninterested in information," he said. "So I will keep our meeting brief. Your friends are located in a room at the top of this spire which is heavily guarded."

"How do I get there?"

The old man smiled slyly. "You don't. If you so much as think of trying to take a direct route into that place, considering your special circumstances," he paused and tapped the back of his own head, "then you are going to die quicker than you can call that special armor of yours."

Jun looked indignant but the Guardian continued smiling.

"Don't worry," he said, "I will tell you the best way to reach your friends, but only once you have listened to what I have to say."

"Fine," Jun said.

"The armor that you bear is dangerous," said the man. "It has powers that neither you nor I can ever fully understand. It was designed for use by my brother, the soul who captured your allies and ordered the destruction of Toyama. You must take great care when utilizing the power of that armor, it was not meant for use by a mortal."

Jun seemed puzzled but did not say a word.

"Six of my guardians are stationed in that room in order to suppress your friends' armors. I will send word once you have gone for them to leave upon your arrival."

"Thanks," Jun said.

"I cannot tell you firmly enough that you must take care when using the shadow armor," repeated the man and he looked at Jun gravely. "Do not use it more than you absolutely must, and once my brother has been deposed you must never use it again. If something else happens to you, another fatal blow or misstep into a wraith pool, I will not be able to help you so long as you are wielding that armor," he paused and pointed down the hallway. "Your exit is in that direction, a small shaft that acts as a transit system for the souls inside this tower. It is long and quite dark, so you should practice due caution while inside. As long as you continue upward you should exit in the chamber where your companions are being held."

Jun nodded his thanks, turned on his heel, and rushed off down the path. Behind him he could hear the Guardian continue his warnings from the place where Jun had left him:

"Do not misuse the armor!"


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 20

Hours passed in quiet and the troopers had neither seen nor heard any more of Jun's position in the tower. Several times Ryo had attempted to engage the others in conversation to continue developing their escape plan, but it seemed that no one was listening. Each of the troopers was content to exist by himself, focused on his own thoughts and his own well-being at least for the time.

Shu periodically tugged at the thick bars of his cage, pulling futilely against the unbreakable structure and trying to bend the bars so he might squeeze out. Toma and Seiji chatted quietly, though what they discussed Ryo was completely uncertain as they were too far away to be heard, and Shin sat quiet and isolated, staring at his yoroi ball as it lay on the floor in front of him.

Once in a while, all eyes would turn to Shin's yoroi ball and the troopers would stare for long moments, waiting expectantly for its soft blue glow to intensify. They might exchange glances during this time, once they expressed brief concerns, but the conversation was always short and consisted mostly of monosyllabic gestures of comfort and false confidence.

After all, it was not the first time that the warriors had been trapped and it was not the first time that they had been completely unable to rescue themselves. In fact, the only discernible difference between their imprisonment now and their capture in the mountainous temple from which Jun had rescued them was the fact that they were all conscious and together.

They had seen nothing of Mai or her evil master since she had brought news of Riku's fall and said that Jun had been engulfed. No noise came from the room beyond the door.

"What do you think?" Ryo said at last, shuffling over to the right side of his cell where Shin looked up rather startled.

"What do I think about what?" Shin replied.

"What do you think we should do? You've been quiet this whole time. We can't summon our armors to get out, we can't trick anyone into letting us out because no one has shown up in ages, and we can't muscle our way out."

"I think we should wait," Shin said simply and he poked absently at the kanji orb, rolling it between his fingers.

Ryo was dissatisfied with this response. He groaned and crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back and furrowing his brow in frustration. "We've been waiting forever, if we don't do something we're never going to get out of this mess."

"You're being hotheaded," came a response from across the room. Apparently Seiji and Toma had discontinued their conversation long enough to eavesdrop and now Seiji gazed with curious intent at Ryo as he spoke. "Shin is right, we need to be patient. With any luck Mai will come back and we can trick her into letting us out."

"Or, with more luck, Jun will show up," Toma added wryly.

Ryo looked at the throne and heaved a long sigh. "Let's hope then, because if something doesn't happen soon we're going to be in serious trouble."

"No food, no water, nothing," Shu grumbled. "I'd be surprised if we didn't starve to death—"

"It's only been a few hours," Shin said sharply. "I'm sure you'll live."

"I just don't like relying on—" Ryo began once again.

"Jun?" Toma said, interrupting Ryo's grumble on the spot. "I'll have you know, I've got no particular feelings toward the kid but if we've got any chance at all it's in him getting up here to help us out."

"Well," Ryo retorted, "I was going to say 'luck' but if you'd rather put words in my mouth that's fine too, because I don't like relying on him. He's reckless and inconsiderate and probably wouldn't show up here anyway because there's nothing in it for him."

"I don't think that's the case," said Shin, and across the way Shu nodded his accord. "I think he's a little confused."

"I think he doesn't know how to react to responsibility," Shu said smartly, and when all eyes turned to him he shrugged pathetically and looked at the floor. "He wants to help, he just isn't sure how. Despite what you guys might have thought he's not real confident in himself. I'd say that if he's still alive, no matter what you say we all hope that he is, and he's putting some serious thought into what he's going to do next. Doesn't seem to me that he's the kind of guy that rushes into a situation without the right plan, we taught him better than that," Shu paused and looked up again, shooting a glance at each of the warriors. "Have some faith and show some respect. He pulled us out of a serious situation not two weeks ago; I can guarantee that he'll do it again if he's able."

The others remained quiet for a long time. It wasn't often that Shu stepped onto his soapbox but when he did it was well worth the listen. He was right; they all wanted Jun to be okay and they all believed, despite anything they might have said to the contrary, that he was their best chance at escape. But they also knew that somehow he was the reason that they were in this mess and that the responsibility Shu spoke of had multiple meaning. Jun felt responsible because if he had only stayed away nobody would have been captured at all. He felt responsible because they had saved him on no small number of occasions and he felt obligated to return the favor. He felt responsible because it was, in part, his presence the prompted the attack on Nasté's home; their enemy wanted his armor and would stop at nothing to get it.

At the same time it was not his fault at all. The troopers had been taken before Jun had ever donned the armor to begin with, if he hadn't accepted it then they might still be stuck unconscious and defenseless in the temple outside of Kayura's shrine. If that had been the case the spirits could have run amok and caused more damage than they ever did. It seemed that in such a case it was a good thing that Jun had been around.

So the troopers returned to silence once again, contemplating what Shu had said and secretly hoping that Jun might burst through the door at any moment. As time passed they each produced their own yoroi ball, placed it on the ground before them, and watched intently, unaware that far below them Jun was climbing through dark tunnels and feeling keenly the same sense of dread that plagued each of them.

He was making decent progress, perhaps a bit slow as the slick tunnel walls, pitch dark, and nearly vertical incline limited his ascent. He stopped now and again to rest, situating himself so that his back pressed firmly against one wall while his feet supported his weight against the other, drinking and eating what he could produce from his rucksack and feeling positively dismal.

He had spent the long hours since he met the Guardian of Souls contemplating the meaning of the man's long speech, the repeated warning that Jun should avoid using the armor if he could. The old man had insisted several times that Jun leave it alone, that he should not use its special ability, and that he was uncertain what would happen if the armor was wielded by a mortal. But Jun had experienced no adverse effects from it, nothing that was caused by the armor at any rate, because nasty falls, blows to the back of the head, and minor cuts and bruises could not be attributed to anything but bad luck and poor skill.

Jun decided to accept the man's words with a heavy dose of skepticism. He did not really know who that person was, did not know from where he had come, and did not know as fact whether or not he was really on the side of good. He could only hope that the armor suppressing guardians at the spire's peak would indeed leave when he reached the throne room.

As he rested, draining the last of two bottles of water in his pack, he began to think about what might happen when he reached the others. He did not know exactly where the tunnel would let out, whether he would have to come up through the floor, drop from the ceiling, or perhaps if it would lead directly into a wall, but one way or another he would have to exit the shaft discreetly. The others would be imprisoned, he reasoned, probably in the same spheres as they had been before, so he would have to locate the release mechanism for each one of them; no small feat judging by his last encounter.

When he had finished drinking he shuffled his feet on the wall in a rather fruitless attempt at comfort and support, and pulled the rucksack around to his front. After replacing the bottle inside it he rummaged around until he produced the first aid kit that he had prepared at Nasté's what felt like days ago. Then he retrieved the yoroi ball from his pocket, his heart sank a bit at the dimness of the light that it produced, and he placed it gingerly in the box beside all of his supplies.

With significant effort he pulled off his sweater and his shirt, laid them out over his legs, and admired as closely as he could the jagged wound on his shoulder. He looked between his shirt, which was stained red from the neck to the chest, and his shoulder which had long since stopped bleeding but had yet to stop hurting.

"Damn it all," he grumbled and began rummaging through the box.

Three ibuprofen, half a bottle of anesthetic on his shoulder, and a healthy amount of swearing later he set off climbing once again, foregoing his sweater and instead tucking it haphazardly into his bag. He now pressed his feet against opposite walls and moved at a steady pace. Perhaps it was the dehydrated instant noodles he had eaten several hours ago or maybe the ridiculous number of pain killers he had just ingested, but he was feeling good again, was slightly more confident and a little more able. His head had not throbbed for at least half an hour, the dizzy spells from the blow had mostly subsided, and his right arm was pleasantly numb from his neck to his elbow. If anything at all he felt tired and physically exhausted, but that was nothing that could not be powered through.

He climbed until his arms and legs felt like jelly beneath his weight, then he rested and climbed some more. Eventually he spotted a hole in the shaft to his right. It was a rather large tunnel that came up from a floor below, emitted a very low light, and intersected with the tunnel in which he presently sat. Initially he dismissed this strange feature but as he progressed he noticed that these openings became more and more frequent.

He recalled the Guardian of Souls stating that he must move ever upward so when he finally came to the end of the tunnel, which forked to his left and to his right, he chose the right hand path which continued rising at a grueling degree.

Eventually his mind wandered to his aching legs and jelly arms and he felt uncertain how much longer he could endure. The ascent had already pushed him to his limits and far outweighed any street run he might have done in any condition at all. Compounded with his new injuries, the dull aches from his old injuries, and his mounting dread for the fate of his companions, Jun felt awful.

But then he spotted it. A square of orange light glowed bright at the end of the tunnel and somehow Jun knew that this was his destination. Heartened, he quickened his pace and was shuffling through the tunnel at breakneck speed. At fifty feet he could see the orange light flickering and he knew that the room ahead was lit by fire. At thirty feet he could see the details on the adjoining wall and at ten feet he could hear the quiet conversation of the troopers as they sat locked away in their cages.

He pulled himself to within feet of the exit and sat, his back pressed against the wall, breathing heavily while his heart flooded with relief that he had completed the arduous climb in the first place. Below him he heard the others discussing how he must have come up with an amazingly clever plan and how it would not be long before they were home again.

Jun wasn't certain how to react to such talk. It seemed as though the others were paying him high compliments and he did not know that he could live up to their expectations. But they believed he could, he could tell by their voices, so he would have to try.

He poked his head out of the exit and peeked around to survey the room. The tunnel exited in the top corner of a rather large and long room with a foot wide ledge around its ceiling which, if required, would allow Jun to creep along around its perimeter relatively unnoticed. Below him were six cages, only one of which was empty, and he knew that it was meant for him. Each of the troopers occupied his own cage and above them hovered one white spirit, just as the Guardian had described. Other than the spirits and the other troopers the room was completely unoccupied.

It seemed as though the guardians did not realize that Jun was present as they did not leave the space as the old man had predicted. He wondered if he had been lying the whole while or if he had to make himself known somehow. Either way he knew that with five of the armor suppressing spirits in the room he would be completely incapable of calling himself to arms.

So he began to formulate a rough plan. First he would need to signal the spirits that he was there so that they could leave. Once they were gone, assuming that they did go, he would have to call himself to arms. In the best case scenario he could jump down and release the others from their prisons at which point they could make their escape together. He did not consider a worst case and did not consider what might happen if the spirits did not go.

He dug around in his bag and once again pulled forth the first aid box. He pulled the needle out of the spool of thread and examined it curiously, hoping that it might gain the spirit's attention without alerting anyone else to his presence. After all, if his plan went wrong he did not want anyone to know.

Leaning out of the exit, his right arm supporting him on the ledge, he threw the needle like a dart at the nearest of the white spirits which hovered no more than five feet away. It entered the top of the being's head and came out the bottom of its crossed leg and the thing looked toward Jun with a mutinous expression in its eyes.

Jun waved his yoroi ball in response and sudden recognition dawned on the guardian's face. The next instant the thing had disappeared completely and in the blink of an eye the rest had followed suit. Relieved that the old man had been speaking the truth Jun looked down and grinned as the other troopers looked around the room with expressions of pure bewilderment. Then he called himself to arms.

The light lowered to near black as the armor assembled itself and Jun could hear the others' expressions of confusion. The fires roared back to life moments later and the murmuring continued until they were all interrupted by a loud, booming voice from the head of the room.

"What is going on?" yelled the faceless man and Jun peered down from the tunnel at him. "Where are the guardians?"

Jun's stomach leapt as he considered what that man might do if he did not act fast. He breathed deep, swallowed hard, and hoped desperately that he could pull off an amazing act. Concentrating hard on the space just in front of the room's proper entrance, Jun summoned the shadow of his armor.

It was as if he was lost in a strong, vivid daydream. He could see the space in which he sat but could also see in great detail the room below from the point of view of the shadow. He felt supremely aware of his surroundings then, both for his physical body and the projection of his armor, and he let his mind wander to the space below. In his shadow's ears he heard the others as they cried his name in surprise but he did not as much as look at them. Instead he stared through his shadow's eyes at the terrifying image before him: an enormous humanlike figure with a featureless face and angry slits for eyes, and he worked very hard to keep his face emotionless.

"You have a lot of nerve, boy," growled the spirit, "to show your face in my private—"

"And you've got a lot of nerve to interrupt my flawless rescue," Jun interrupted arrogantly and the spirit's eyes twisted in rage and indignation. "Who the hell are you, anyway?"

The spirit began to speak and from his vantage point above Jun grinned while his shadow remained iron faced and stoic, standing tall and proud before the horrifying spirit. He knew very well who this being was; he was the leader of the army that had destroyed his world and Jun enjoyed very much making him feel as though he was a complete nobody.

"I am the lord of this spire!" spat the spirit reproachfully. "I control the army of souls that descended upon your home! I am the rightful owner of the armor that you wear! I am the Arbiter of Souls!"

The shadow stood motionless and after a moment quirked a brow in skepticism. Then it let out an obnoxious and haughty laugh. The Arbiter's eyes narrowed until at last with his initial mirth spent Jun's shadow stood and his body shook with suppressed laughter.

"You're kidding me, right?" Jun said. "It's no wonder I can't take you seriously with a name so stupid. The Arbiter of Souls? Did you steal that from a video game?"

"Insolence!" shrieked the Arbiter. "Guards!"

Jun's shadow raised its hand and waggled a finger at the Arbiter, doing nothing to hide his sarcastic attitude. "Now, now, don't you think you're rushing into things a bit? Let's have a quick chat. I don't much approve your methods around here and I'd like to see a change."

Above, Jun proper stepped out onto the ledge as delicately as he could, his focus split between keeping his balance and continuing to mock the angry spirit below. He could see the others gaping with horrified expressions at his shadow. Toma was trying to signal for him to stop talking and Seiji's face was resting in his palm as though he was severely embarrassed but it seemed for the time that no one had realized that it was not truly Jun that spoke so boldly to the Arbiter. They did not know that he was above them.

When the doors behind the shadow burst open Jun ducked low behind one of the brightly burning braziers and the shadow whirled about. Two dozen black spirits hunched in the doorway, their arms contorted into malicious looking weapons. Jun's shadow put its hands on its hips, grinned cleverly, and looked back at the Arbiter once before turning its full attention to the throng.

"This is going to be a cakewalk," he quipped.

As if on cue the shadows poured into the room and Jun's shadow grabbed the glaives from its back. In a fluid motion that Jun proper could never have pulled off himself he flicked his wrist and sent the right glaive flying end over end through the approaching mob, slicing easily through the spirits crammed in the center. The shadow took off after the glaive in a dead sprint through the midst of them all, swinging its left glaive and laughing as though it was having the time of its life.

"After him!" screamed the Arbiter and his voice was hoarse and trembling with rage. He rushed up toward the doorway and stood staring after the mob of spirits as they gave chase to the shadow, completely oblivious to the fact that Jun proper had nimbly jumped from the ledge and landed noiselessly behind the throne.

His heart was racing now and his mind ached under the strain of continued focus. The sensation of controlling two bodies was as exhilarating as it was exhausting and he was uncertain how long he could maintain the intense activity. As he guided his shadow through winding black corridors he crept along the wall until he was seated in the corner nearest Shu's cell. He cleared his throat as quietly as he could.

"Shu niichan," he whispered slowly and Shu rounded on him immediately looking positively startled. Jun put a finger to his lips and nodded, showing a cool thumbs up. "We can call ourselves to arms in here now that those white spirits are gone."

"What happened to you? You're all bloody and—"

At once the Arbiter wheeled about, his arm outstretched, and a bright blue bolt shot the length of the room. Jun dove away, felt white hot pain sear his back, and landed unceremoniously behind the throne where he sat panting and terrified. He looked to the spot where he had just been and the wall had melted away in a wide round hole where the bolt had hit. The brick above dripped onto the floor below and smoke rose from the mess.

"Did you honestly think you could use that armor against me?" roared the Arbiter.

"I thought I'd give it a try," Jun retorted from behind the throne, the cocky words leaving his mouth before he could think twice about it. "It at least got your goons out of here, didn't it?"

Another bolt blasted the throne and the stone directly above Jun's head dripped and smoked. He rolled away from it, afraid to be hit by the molten stone. As he kneeled in the open he could see the others staring at him with the same incredulous looks as they had given him when he met them for the first time in Kayura's sitting room. It was as if they were staring at a complete stranger.

Then he stood, returned his focus to the enraged Arbiter, and drew his glaives. He felt his hands shaking under the weight of the metal and when a third blue bolt shot toward him he steeled his body, as much a freezing reaction as it was a deliberate move, and held the left blade out.

The bolt sliced on the edge of the blade, split into two separate but equally devastating halves, and crashed harmlessly into the wall behind him. And as amazing as the move seemed to the other troopers Jun was genuinely surprised that he hadn't wet himself.

Jun ran forward in a blind rush and the Arbiter seemed momentarily stupefied. Jun swung his left glaive at him, whirled around, and used his momentum to drive the right glaive across his chest in what could have been an amazing combination. But the Arbiter was too fast and sidestepped the attack with a maniacal laugh.

"Shu! Now!" Jun cried and he could hear the warrior of kongo shuffling in his cell.

Before he could react the Arbiter whirled about and an iron backhand connected with the side of his head. In that moment Jun lost his focus and his mind returned entirely to himself. He felt a jolt as the shadow came back to his armor but the sensation of increased power faded immediately as a second blow fell against his left shoulder.

The world was spinning. It was all that Jun could do to remain on his feet after his graceless stagger sideways and he raised his glaives defensively. His vision swam and his eyes would not focus but he was certain that the black blob in front of him was the Arbiter. He saw the figure raise his hand again and yet another bolt flashed before him.

Jun threw his glaives before him, trying again to deflect the attack, but he moved too late and too slow. The thing connected with the plate of his right armguard and Jun could feel the hair on his body singe against the heat. He fell back in agony, fell against the wall, and gazed up as the Arbiter approached.

He watched as five blurs of colored plate and shining silver weapons rose behind the Arbiter.

"You've had your bit of fun, wretch, but now it is time to return that armor to me," said the spirit as he stepped forward.

Jun grinned arrogantly. "I don't think it is," he replied, and his voice was so cold and absolute that the Arbiter stopped dead in his tracks.

The Arbiter spun on his heel to face the five armed and armored troopers who stared at him with looks of unadulterated rage. Ryo stepped forward, called forth the Kikoutei, and to Jun's absolute astonishment Byakuen came bounding and roaring through the double doors, summoned forth by its master.

He had not seen Byakuen since the day that Mai had attacked him, since Shu had been captured, and no one had made any mention of the tiger at all. He wondered where the beast had been for so long.

Lost in his puzzlement he did not hear Ryo call out his commands and barely registered when Seiji dove behind him, scooped him up, and darted as far from the Arbiter as he could go. And with the coordination of years of synchronization Ryo summoned the Inferno's Rage, lit the room with bright red flames, and sent them soaring at the Arbiter. The others, Seiji the only exception as he held Jun's arm over his own shoulder, summoned their own ballistic attacks and the Arbiter disappeared amongst the chaos.

Was it over? Jun thought. He had not seen the spirit burst into mist as others had done. He saw no remnants of the Arbiter in the aftermath of the attacks which left the whole right wall of the tower in a mess of rubble and exposed the warriors to the cold night air. And as Jun looked through the gaping hole he was dumbstruck and awed by the fact that it was raining outside. His throat seemed to swell and his stomach stabbed with nervousness. How could it be over so fast?

"Jun!" Seiji cried, and Jun realized at once that he had been calling him for some time.

"I'm all right," Jun replied meekly, forgetting his heroism at once and reverting to the quiet, calculated personality that he reserved for the troopers at large. "Really, I'm okay," he repeated, and he pulled himself from Seiji's grasp to stand uneasily on his own. He replaced the glaives on his back and looked to the others blankly.

"That was brilliant!" Shin cried from across the room and he dashed to Jun's side, clapped the boy on the shoulder, and recoiled immediately when Jun grimaced and nearly fell down. But when Jun regained his feet and waved Shin's concern away he continued as happily as he had started. "How did you do that? One minute you were in front of that…_thing_…Then you ran away and the next minute you were back by Shu!"

"It's complicated," Jun said, deadpan.

"We don't have time for explanation," said Toma from behind. He understood exactly what had happened and his expression read as a mix of pride and surprise. "Let's get out of here."

The warriors, led now by Ryo and Byakuen, left the ruined throne room and rushed off through the doors. Seiji and Shin remained at Jun's side, asking alternately if he was certain that he was all right and pointing out with no reservation that he was covered in dried blood and his right arm was in very poor condition. He continued to wave them off wordlessly as they descended stair after stair until suddenly Ryo stopped and Jun nearly crashed headlong into his armored back.

"What do you want?" Ryo spat.

"My business is not with you."

Jun peered around Ryo's shoulder and saw Mai blocking the room's only exit downward. Her long slender sword was poised in her right hand and her left was clenched into a tight fist at her side. She looked both terrified and angry at once.

"What do you want?" Ryo repeated.

Jun put a hand on Ryo's shoulder and the warrior of wildfire looked at him with skepticism. Jun, his gaze cold and intense once again, nodded to him curtly and Ryo stepped aside at once. Jun did not draw his weapons against the young woman before him.

"You lost," he said. "Step aside and you won't get hurt."

Toma grimaced behind and stepped back. He had been wrestling with himself for hours and had not yet concluded whether he should tell Jun the truth about this particular soul. He stepped back and watched from behind Shu and Shin while his mind raced with what he might have called fear.

"Do you think that you are honorable?" Mai said and her voice quivered. "Do you think that you can realize the full potential of the armor that you wear? Do you think that you are virtuous?"

Jun remained quiet and stared at her with steely eyes.

"You are a liar, you are a thief, and you are a murderer!" she screamed and at once regained her composure. "Your friends do not know who you are, brother. They do not know what you do, and they do not know the toll that it has taken on your soul."

Jun glanced to the side to see the five troopers shooting interested and curious looks his direction but he dared not speak.

"You are broken!" Mai declared, her voice firm and loud. "And a broken soul cannot wield the shadow armor!"

"He is not," came a rebuttal from the side and Shu stepped forward to stand firm by Jun's side.

Jun looked at Shu with surprise but did not reject the support. He felt terrified, perhaps more terrified than he had felt against the Arbiter, at the prospect that the others might find out about his trafficking. He had given it no thought since the attack on Nasté's house but knew beyond a shadow of doubt that if the others found out it would mean the end of their relationship, the end of his hope to rekindle a familial bond between them, and the end of his perceived valor.

"Why are you doing this?" Jun said quietly. "Why can't you just leave me alone?"

"Why is it that the innocent die while the corrupt endure?" Mai replied angrily. "You destroyed my home! You destroyed my lord! He was to grant me rest and peace and you murdered him. It is only fair that your friends understand that your wickedness extends far beyond the realm of this spire, they do not know with whom they are dealing."

"Shut up!" Jun yelled, drawing the attention of the others once more. "It's none of your concern!"

"Are you afraid, brother?" she said slyly. "Afraid that they will find out that you are a low class criminal? That you deal in—"

Jun rushed forward. His glaives were in hand though he did not recall drawing them and he screamed words that he could not hear. His voice broke and he felt his eyes grow hot with moisture. He acted out of absolute panic, his composure lost entirely in the face of exposure, and before he knew what had happened he heard the ring of metal as his glaives collided with Mai's sword.

The blades stuck in a grapple and Mai leaned close to him, a coy smirk on her face. "Do you have the nerve to put me to rest, brother? Would you dare?"

Jun swung his left arm round and stabbed at her with the end of his glaive. But his right arm could not hold the grapple and it buckled, Mai's sword carving into his shoulder as he moved. She recoiled, yanked the sword away, and stared wide eyed at him as though she had not expected him to react in such a way.

"You are corrupt," she taunted. "How else is it that you could ever conceive to destroy my spirit?"

Jun glared up at her, oblivious to the second gaping slice in his shoulder. His chest heaved with breath and his entire body trembled. "I don't know who you think you are," he growled, "but I'll be damned if I let you destroy my life for your own sick self-satisfaction."

"Then destroy me and let my blood remain ever on your hands."

Jun lunged ahead, throwing his left arm in a wide horizontal slice which Mai parried easily, but she did not see nor expect his wounded right hand to follow. The glaive sank cleanly into her semi-corporeal body. She stared at him blankly and he returned her gaze with a look of insane fury.

"Your soul will crumble under the weight of the shadow," she said, and then she burst into a cloud of black shimmering particles, leaving Jun kneeling on the ground still quivering violently.

No one dared say a word for a long time after Mai had gone. The troopers did not look to each other for comfort or ideas; they each stared at Jun expectantly and waited for him to rise. They waited for him to explain what Mai had been talking about.

But Jun sat there for a long time trying with all his effort to compose himself. He had never felt such overwhelming hatred for anyone in his life, had never felt so insulted and so terrified by the words that someone spoke. He reeled as he thought of the questions that would follow Mai's self-righteous speech and he wondered if he would be able to face the others at all. He would have to tell them the truth.

Surprisingly it was Toma who broke the tense silence. He stepped forward, kneeled behind Jun's trembling figure, and hooked his hand underneath Jun's left arm. "You're hurt," he said quietly, quiet enough that Jun was the only one that could hear him, and he spoke with a tenderness and understanding that Jun had never heard from him before. "We need to go home."

Home? What was home? Where was home? The word rolled through Jun's head and felt as foreign to him as if Toma had been speaking Greek. He was thinking so hard about the idea that he barely registered that he was again on his feet or that Toma had gently pried his glaives from his iron grip and replaced them on their seats. He felt it only vaguely when Toma grasped him gingerly around his waist and he obediently placed his arm around Toma's shoulders. He heard quiet conversation as the five seasoned troopers collected themselves, resigned to forego questioning until later, and ushered him from the room.

The group remained silent as they descended countless stairs, passed through the room in which Jun had fought against an army of spirit soldiers, and through the room where Toma had been imprisoned. All the while Jun shuffled along at Toma's side, his body working automatically while his mind processed hundreds of mortifying scenarios. The troopers would disown him, Nasté would never speak to him again, and Kayura would take his armor away. He would be on his own with no home, no money, no job, and no friends to call for help.

He would be alone again.

The word rang in his mind like a bell. It was the sensation that he felt and the source of his seemingly endless anxiety. He was alone already. Even though he was surrounded by the five troopers who he considered above all others to be his brothers, even knowing that Nasté was waiting worried for them all to return safely.

The realization hit him as the party exited the doors to the temple. It was raining. It was cold. He was alone.

Jun let go a single violent sob and stumbled forward on the stair. He tried to hide his embarrassment by playing the emotion off as an intense shot of pain but Toma knew better. The warrior of strata said nothing at all but Jun felt his grip tighten slightly around his waist all the same, as much a gesture of sympathy as he was going to get. He did not raise his head even as the troupe reached Nasté's abandoned car and did not bid Ryo and Byakuen goodbye as they went off in search of her.

Toma helped Jun to a seat against the rear wheel and mercifully left him alone with no more regard than a pat on his good shoulder, then led the remaining four some distance away to gape at the slowly disintegrating tower and reflect on what had just transpired.

Jun was left to reflect on his sudden irrational grief.


	22. Chapter 22

Epilogue

A week after the victory over the Arbiter Jun had yet to leave his bedroom. He had agreed tentatively to stay at Nasté's only because he had nowhere else to go and he did not react kindly when he was told that the other five would remain there as well. Having said nothing more than 'thanks' or 'no thanks' when anyone came to offer him food or company it was not surprising that the place hung thick with concerned quiet.

The troopers had done an expert job of rebuilding the house and by the sixth day there was almost no evidence that the spirit army had attacked at all. Furniture had been replaced and mended, cracks and slices in the walls had been repaired, and the carpets and rugs were scrubbed diligently until every trace of blood and dirt was gone. But the warriors had worked in near silence, each of them contemplating Jun's self-imposed exile with no small degree of worry. The boy's attitude had changed completely and inexplicably after he destroyed Mai and it had not been for the better.

It was not so much the fact that Jun had been quiet that bothered them; he was always quiet when he wasn't copping an arrogant attitude. What bothered them was the fact that these moments of personality had disappeared completely and he had locked himself away without any explanation at all.

Toma was the only one that was not outwardly disturbed by this sudden change because he was the only one that understood the gravity of the situation. It was not enough that Mai had suggested that Jun was guilty of a number of serious infractions but then he had destroyed her in a completely uncharacteristic fit of rage. Any other time that Jun was forced to fight he did so with a degree of wit and ingenuity that made the spectacle almost fun to watch. Toma grinned despite himself any time he thought of Jun's initial conversation with the Arbiter when Jun had been so facetious that Toma could not help but recall the scene with fondness.

But something had been different with Mai. She had managed to get under Jun's skin with only a few word and those words had blinded him with anger. She knew things about Jun that Jun had told no one, things that he would never have disclosed under any circumstance at all. He had not wanted to kill her. He had had to kill her to protect his own dark secrets. It was only after the deed had been done that Jun realized that it was too late and that Mai had said enough to fuel hundreds of devastating questions. Jun felt regret more intense than he had ever known. His conscience was torn and for the first time since accepting the armor his understanding of right and wrong was cloudy and muddled.

And Jun felt grief that was inexplicable to anyone but Toma and more than once one of the troopers had compared Jun's suffering to that of someone who had lost a loved one. But no matter how much they searched they could find no relatives or friends who had died in the attacks on Toyama or Shinjuku and if they had asked even Jun would have been completely unable to tell them the source of his distress. Toma was the only one that knew and he could not bring himself to say a word.

It came as a surprise on the tenth day when Nasté assembled the troopers in the sitting room and then proceeded to barge into Jun's bedroom without so much as knocking. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her expression was absolutely cross.

"That's enough," she said. "I'm not letting you do this to yourself."

Jun had been lying on the bed with his arms tucked behind his head while he stared through unfocused eyes at the ceiling. When Nasté spoke he looked at her with surprise but did not move. She had never taken such a tone with him before and he was clueless as to how he should react.

"I've been meaning to talk to you for a few days," Nasté continued, "but I'm not going to do it up here. You've been holed up for more than a week now and it's about time you got over yourself and came downstairs."

Jun blinked dumbly.

"If you want to hear me out you can come downstairs and act like a member of this family, otherwise stay up here and rot for all I care."

She threw her arms up in frustration at Jun's continued silence, turned about, and exited the room without shutting the door. It took Jun a few moments after this encounter before he was able to overcome the shock and when he did he swung his legs over the side of the bed and followed like a confused puppy.

As he walked round the landing he could see through the bannister that all five troopers and Nasté were talking quietly in the sitting room as if involved in a corporate meeting. None of them looked particularly surprised when Jun shuffled down the stairs and stopped in the doorway where he interrupted their conversation with a quiet but firm, "What?"

"Come sit down," Nasté said, patting the empty armchair beside her. "We've got a lot to talk about."

Jun stepped over obediently though he kept his eyes always on the floor. He did not like the looks that the others were giving him, he could feel their stone gazes on him and it made his skin crawl. But he sat resignedly in the chair anyway and locked his eyes on the shiny new coffee table in front of him.

"This isn't an intervention, it's not an interrogation, and what I have to say probably won't come as any surprise to you anyway," Nasté said plainly and produced a plastic milk crate from behind her chair which was nearly half full of neatly stacked papers.

Jun gaped at the crate and shot a confused glance at each of the other warriors in turn. Shu shrugged and Toma smirked knowingly, but the rest of them offered no response at all.

"I've made arrangements for you to stay here with me," Nasté continued. "This is paperwork that you need to fill out, change of address forms, insurance papers, and other things of that nature."

Jun stammered dumbly for a moment before saying curtly, "I can't."

"Yes you can," Nasté retorted hotly. "Your house in Toyama was destroyed, the man you lived with was killed, and you've got nowhere else to go. This isn't up for debate."

Jun swallowed hard and noticed that the others wore self-satisfied smirks. He did not share in their mirth.

"And now that that's been decided we need you to talk to us. Specifically I need you to talk to me, and in exchange for your honesty I've got a very special proposition."

He looked at Nasté with no small degree of skepticism. "What do you want to know?"

"We want to know what Mai was talking about," Ryo said flatly though he did not sound angry. "We want to know what you were doing in Toyama while Seiji was there. We want to know anything that you feel you need to tell us."

All the blood drained from Jun's face. He looked down almost at once and spent the next awkward moments admiring the shape of his new black slippers, a gift from Nasté that he'd found sitting inside his door two days prior. He had known that this would happen. He knew that they would ask and he knew that he would have to tell them everything eventually. But he had hoped that they might forget all the same and so he had never prepared an answer.

Everyone could see that his brain was working frantically and that he was trying to come up with a clever response filled with half-truths and soft rhetoric.

"I want you to be honest," Nasté said quietly, before he could produce a fake answer. "Nothing you say is going to make me change my mind about you living here and nothing you say is going to make the five of them hate you. And no matter what you say I'm still going to reward you, so there's no reason to cover anything up any more."

Jun swallowed hard and then, very tentatively, began to explain himself. He covered every detail from the accident, his performance in school afterward, his brief stint at the boy's home, and how he had come to stay with the now dead vodka man.

"I stole some money from him one day at the bus station, was a stupid thing to do but I thought I needed it," Jun said quietly. "Turns out he was involved with the Yakuza and thought I had potential. Before I knew it I was either locked up in his stupid old house or out running errands for his junkie clients. Had I known it would end up as it did I'd never have touched the guy but by the time I found out it was too late," he paused and then smirked slightly. "But over the last year or so I nicked a pretty decent percent of his take and put it toward clinic, so that's a positive."

He did not look up to see the others exchanging interested glances but from the corner of his eye he saw Nasté blow a long sigh, put her feet up on the table, and plop her chin down on her hand. He had been talking nonstop for nearly twenty minutes now and figured that this was as good a place to stop as any.

"Then I guess it's a good thing we got you out of Toyama," Nasté said thoughtfully. "But Yakuza could pose a big problem in Shinjuku."

"It could pose a problem with law enforcement," Seiji added curtly. He had taken particular interest in the latter half of Jun's long story. "My father once mentioned some underground smuggling ring in Toyama but he said that no one there could figure out who was behind it."

Jun's heart skipped a beat. Surely Seiji would not turn him in, not after everything they had been through. But Shin came to his aid almost immediately and Seiji fell quiet once more.

"I don't think there's any need to tell your father anything," Shin said. "Jun was working against his better judgment and now that he's going to stay with Nasté I'm sure we won't need to worry about him causing any more trouble."

All eyes turned to Jun and he jerked his head once to affirm Shin's statement.

"Then it's settled," Nasté said brightly. She produced another thick stack of papers from behind her chair and tossed them into the milk crate, where they landed on top of the already sizeable pile with a slap. "Those are admission forms."

"Admission for what?"

Nasté smiled wide and shot a glance at Toma. "Toma and I had a chat with a Doctor Hatsuharu Atsuko, I think you know him. He was the former head of surgery at Keio University Hospital and now he's the dean of medicine. He is working to set up an individual program for you so that while you study you can also participate in field work."

Jun's head snapped up and his expression twisted in disbelief. "What?"

"As long as you live in my house you'll be attending university in Tokyo. I won't take no for an answer."

"What?" Jun repeated, feeling stupid. He was certain that he did not comprehend the words coming out of Nasté's mouth. "How?"

"The records that were recovered from the demolished clinic in Toyama were sent to national hospitals and Hatsuharu noticed your name. When I called and asked for a meeting on your behalf he was elated to learn that you'd become interested in medicine after your accident and taken up the practice, though he was much less excited to know you'd been working illegally. He offered to pull a few strings to make certain that you could be admitted into any program you'd like in the college of medicine under his watchful eye."

"What?"

"You graduated high school with remarkable grades and your work at the clinic was almost completely flawless, at least that's what he said," Toma interjected. "So quit acting stupid and look like you're excited. It wasn't easy getting all of this paperwork together and I'd hate to think we went through all of that trouble for nothing."

Jun looked between Toma and Nasté with wide eyes. Then he looked to the paperwork, then to the troopers at large. He could think of nothing to say at that moment and could not have articulated the words even if he had a professionally prepared speech sitting in front of him. As one the troopers stood and began filing out of the room, each one patting him gently on the shoulder as they passed, until only he and Nasté remained in the room.

She sat and grinned at him for a long time as he began to shuffle through the mountain of papers, never taking one out of the milk crate but scanning them over in complete astonishment, and when he looked at her again her eyes were glassy and wet.

Jun was startled. "What's the matter?" he said quickly and dropped the papers back into the crate. "I'm sorry if I upset you but you guys asked, I mean, did I say something wrong? Are you okay?"

Nasté's smile widened and she stood up from the couch, surveyed him for a long moment as he sat there looking absolutely mortified by her sudden emotion, and then bent low and wrapped him in a firm but considerate embrace. He felt her suppress a quiet sob and then she spoke very quietly into his ear.

"We're just glad to have you home."

Ж

END NOTES: A big ol' hot steaming pile of thanks to everyone whose stayed with me for these last few months. I can't tell you how much it means that people actually want to read what I write. I've decided that I love these characters too much to let this go at this point, so I'm going to begin working on a followup, something completely new (as this was a rewrite, remember!), and hopefully I'll have something to show for it within the next week or so, ideally I'll have a few chapters jump start so you won't be waiting weeks between posts like I made you do for this. Additionally, I'll be revising and editing this piece periodically so keep an eye out for updates and changes. Slap me on author alert if you haven't already and you find yourself interested in a followup.

Thanks so much -KC76


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